Petr Yan Isn’t Interested in Fighting “Puppy” Cody Garbrandt Anytime Soon

One of the stories to emerge out of UFC 245 was the backstage exchange between Cody Garbrandt and Petr Yan. But, if you’ve been thinking that’s a fight you would like to see, Yan’s made it clear he’s not interested in facing “No Love” anytime soon.

Yan comments on the much-discussed exchange

Yan faced Garbrandt’s longtime friend and teammate, Urijah Faber at UFC 245, and he finished the Hall of fame fighter in round three. Faber showcased his heart and toughness once again, but the hand speed and kicks of Yan delivered the rising bantamweight the victory.

After the memorable victory, video was captured of Garbrandt and Yan having words backstage. As tensions ramped up, the two had to be separated. Well, more recently Yan was a guest on the Eurobash podcast, and of course, he was asked about the incident with Garbrandt

(quotes via MMA Fighting):

“Cody wrote, ‘Get this MFer,’ on Dana White’s Instagram page, I jokingly replied, ‘You are next, No Chin,’ and he tried to act tough and crossed the line by commenting that he will see me tomorrow and smack me like a little ho. You all saw what happened when he saw me face to face: he was hiding his hands behind his back, acting all emotional and didn’t back up his words proving that he is all talk. He is a puppy – he barks, but doesn’t bite.”

And what about fighting Garbrandt sometime soon?

While discussing whether he’d be interested in fighting the former champ, Yan said this

“It would just be a matter of time before I can catch him and after that you will see another fall of the man with no chin. Now I understand that he talks big just to stay relevant. He is trying to attach his name to mine because I just won the fight and I’m on the rise. He needs to win a fight first before calling me out.”

“To be honest, at this stage of my career, I’m not interested in this fight at all,” Yan added. “I believe I deserve to fight for the title and will talk to UFC about that first. After that we can plan and see what fights will make sense. In the future it’s still possible, I would love to show you Russian boxing style.”

While Garbrandt supporters may not agree with Yan’s assessment here of the fighter’s chin, they can’t really argue with Yan’s position about the timing of this fight. Even if Garbrandt beats Raphael Assuncao on March 28th, Yan has much more to lose than gain by fighting “No Love”. After all, Yan has won six straight in the UFC and he’s in the title shot mix. Garbrandt has lost three in a row.