Yan vs Figueiredo + What's Next in the Bantamweight Division

This fight was a vintage Petr Yan fight with him winning on each judge's scorecards 50 –45. Yan showed tremendous skill against former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo as dominated a majority of the exchanges in the fight. This fight moves Yan up to arguable number 2 status the bantamweight division as only Umar Nurmagomedov sits above him. The man I believe he is on par with is former champion Sean O’Malley, these two have faced off in the past with O’Malley winning by controversial decision and with the champion most likely to fight Nurmagomedov, Yan should either sit out or fight O’Malley. 

What's next for the bantam weight division? Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier touched on this topic in their podcast, Good Guy, Bad Guy. With Cormier suggesting a fight between number 4 ranked Cory Sandhagen and number 1 ranked Sean O’Malley, this would be a risky matchup for both as both are dangerous strikers with knockout power. Cormier also suggested a fight between Figueiredo and Dominick Cruz, this would be a great matchup as both are former champions with a great legacy and with Cruz saying he wants one more fight, he deserves a big name to go out on. This would also be a good launch pad for Figueiredo to get back into the title picture if he wins that matchup. 

Overall, in this fight Yan showed that he deserves a shot at least for number 1 contender ship if not for a shot at the belt. In the fight Figueiredo didn’t look bad, it was just Yan’s night and Figueiredo just got caught against a world class opponent on peak form. If Figueiredo was in there with pretty much anybody else in the division on that night he more than likely would have won.