With Henry Cejudo “retiring” and vacating his bantamweight title, the UFC had to put together a fight for the vacant championship. Peter “No Mercy” Yan clearly deserved to be one-half of this bout, but some have questioned Jose Aldo Jr.’s inclusion as the other half.
Aldo, the long-time featherweight king, lost his bantamweight debut to Marlon Moraes in a split decision lost and lost to current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in his previous bout. With Aldo on a two-fight losing streak and with numerous deserving bantamweight contenders that could have been chosen for this spot, some were scratching their head over this matchup.
Yan is an impressive fighter with a solid boxing background as he has achieved the Russian Master of Sport ranking in Boxing. Yan brings good power to go along with his boxing skills. He is 14-1 overall and is a perfect 6-0 in the UFC. Yan is most recently coming off a head kick KO of the “California Kid” Urijah Faber
Round 1
Good inside leg kick for Aldo . Big overhand right by Yan. Hard jab to the body by Yan. Yan with a combination that finishes to the body. Nice right hand counter by Yan. Heavy low kick by Aldo . Big right hand by Yan lands on Aldo’s jaw. Yan landing heavy shots from top position.
Seattle Fights round score – 10-9 Yan
Round 2
Nice inside leg kick for Aldo. Another hard low kick for Aldo. Another hard low kick from Aldo forces the stance switch from Yan. Good inside leg kick for Yan this time. Good high kick for Aldo followed by a nice punch to the body for Aldo. Another nice body shot by Aldo.
Seattle Fights round score – 10-9 Aldo
Round 3
Nice body kick scores for Yan. Nice right hand to the body for Aldo. Another good rip to the body for Aldo. Aldo with a knee to Yan’s face. Yan very active late in the round. Nice uppercut for Aldo lands. Nice elbow from Yan.
Seattle Fights round score – 10-9 Yan
Round 4
Nice straight left by Yan. Hard inside low kick by Yan and he follows with a hard body kick that scores on Aldo. A big rip to the body by Aldo but Yan returns with two counter shots to Aldo’s head. Another hard body shot lands for Aldo. Good hard inside low kick for Yan. Yan with a lot of forward pressure. Big uppercut by Yan hurts Aldo. Yan scores a beautiful trip and is in top position. Heavy shots from top position. Two hard shots from Yan that bounce Aldo’s head off the canvas. Big round for Yan.
Seattle Fights round score – 10-9 Yan
Round 5
Huge 1-2 from Yan to start the round hurts Aldo. Yan knocks down Aldo sending him to the mat with a big uppercut. Big shots from Yan in top position. Nasty elbow from Yan. Yan pinning Aldo’s right arm down with his leg and hammering Aldo from top position. Yan hammers Aldo for seemingly an eternity as referee Leon Roberts apparently has no idea what he’s looking at as he should have stopped the fight long before.
Official decision – TKO victory for Yan – Round 5 (3:24)