UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has once more made his plea to be included on the historic event.
This past December, ‘No Mercy’ shockingly dethroned Merab Dvalishvili of the UFC bantamweight title when he dominated him of their rematch.
Since then, the Russian striker has been talking about making his return, but he first needed to undergo back surgery.
And having now recovered almost fully from his surgery, Petr Yan is once more targeting the UFC White House event to make his return.
Petr Yan tells the UFC to point out goodwill and disrespect politics
Earlier this yr, the aforementioned Dvalishvili seemingly leaked that Russian fighters are banned from competing on the historic event.
Despite that, the 33-year-old bantamweight champion has implored the promotion to disregard any potential politics that may even see Russian fighters unable to compete on the event.
“I haven’t heard a definite regarding UFC fighters, however the UFC is a large international organization with fighters from everywhere in the world,” Yan told the Ariel Helwani show.
“I feel that, if anything, this may be an incredible gesture of goodwill, to point out that sports, in spite of everything, are outside of politics.”
In reality, Yan is hoping that after competing on the South Lawn of the White House, he might have the option to persuade the UFC of allowing him to fight on the Red Square in Moscow.
“The goal is, first, we take the White House. Then we’ll do an enormous event within the Red Square.”
Who will Petr Yan fight next?
Former UFC champion Sean O’Malley has been hoping that he can hop over the pack at 135lbs by fighting Yan next.
Nevertheless, that is incredibly unlikely to occur as in response to Dvalishvili, he has been promised a title fight in his return to the Octagon.
“Right after our fight, the UFC called me and told me in person and said, just take your time, as much as you wish, get better, and also you’re fighting obviously, just tell us when you desire to come back,” the Georgian told The Ariel Helwani show this past Monday.
Yan stated that if he isn’t in a position to compete on the White House, he would really like to defend his title in either July or August.