ABU DHABI – Petr Yan proved to be too much for Marcus McGhee at UFC on ABC 9.
Yan (19-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) showed off his diverse striking en route to a unanimous decision win (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over McGhee (10-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event at Etihad Arena.
Yan immediately put the pressure on McGhee, who kept circling out of danger. McGhee landed a hard leg kick, and Yan barely missed on the counter. Yan briefly dropped McGhee with a leg kick and tagged him with a big left hook. Yan continued to attack McGhee’s legs. McGhee landed a nice combination, as Yan continued to stalk him. The pair exchanged in the pocket, with Yan clipping McGhee. Yan then landed a couple of beautiful uppercuts in the clinch, but McGhee fired back with his best shot of the round, a right hook.
In Round 2, Yan continued to pressure McGhee who ducked under for a takedown. Yan defended well and broke free. Yan clipped McGhee with a straight right, but McGhee fired back with an uppercut, and a hard leg kick. Yan stumbled McGhee back with a hard right, followed by a leaping hook. McGhee started to draw blood from his left eye. Yan landed a blistering right, followed by a left hook. Yan mixed up his attack with a jumping knee, but McGhee hung tough and kept throwing back. Yan then ripped to the body. McGhee attempted a spinning wheel kick which briefly tagged Yan, but it was Yan landing the much more significant strikes.
McGhee started Round 3 by landing a short combination, but Yan fired back with a left hook. McGhee shot for another takedown, but was easily shucked off. Yan backed McGhee to the fence, closing out his combination with a big body shot. Now Yan shot for a takedown, and eventually got McGhee down, but McGhee popped right back up. Yan continued holding onto him, landing knees to his thighs. As soon as McGhee broke free, Yan tripped him and tried to latch onto a kimura as the horn sounded.
Yan made it three-straight wins, and wants the winner of the bantamweight title fight between champion Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320 on Oct. 4. Meanwhile, McGhee suffered his first loss in the octagon.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ABC 9 results
- Petr Yan def. Marcus McGhee via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Shara Magomedov def. Marc-Andre Barriault via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Asu Almabayev def. Jose Ochoa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Bogdan Guskov def. Nikita Krylov via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:18
- Bryce Mitchell def. Said Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Muslim Salikhov def. Carlos Leal via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:42
- Davey Grant def. Da’Mon Blackshear via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Tabatha Ricci def. Amanda Ribas via TKO (elbow) – Round 2, 2:59
- Billy Elekana def. Ibo Aslan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Steven Nguyen def. Mohammad Yahya via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 2, 5:00
- Martin Buday def. Marcus Buchecha via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
