Petr Yan

By FCF Staff

Petr Yan is aware of John Dodson’s experience and his longtime, contender status in the UFC, but the rising bantamweight doesn’t sound too concerned about what the veteran fighter will bring to the cage when they fight later this month.

Recently the UFC announced that Yan will face Dodson at the promotion’s February 23rd card in Prague. Since then, the Russian prospect spoke with MMA Fighting about the upcoming bout, and while doing so, Yan said this:

“To be honest, I don’t care if he won or lost his last fight. What’s important is that he is ranked higher than me. He is top-eight, so that motivates me to beat him and take his place. He is experienced, but I can’t say he has a big arsenal of moves. He is pretty predictable and not very versatile. I have a lot of experience at amateur and in my pro career, so I don’t think he can surprise me,” Yan said.

“I don’t know how the fight will go,” he added. “I use my initiative to control everything in my fights. I always try to take the center of the Octagon, but I can work as a counter fighter too. I will prepare something interesting for him.”

Yan (11-1) is coming off a corner stoppage victory over Douglas Silva de Andrade to move his Octagon record to 3-0.

Dodson (20-10), meanwhile, dropped a decision loss to Jimmie Rivera in his last fight, which took place in September. The longtime contender has gone 2-3 in his last 5 outings.