Ex-UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has been slapped with sanctions by the Ukrainian parliament as one of a number of athletes who allegedly supported Russia's invasion.
The fighter, who recently suffered a controversial loss to Sean O'Malley in Abu Dhabi at UFC 280, is among 56 sportspeople approved for economic sanctions as part of a draft resolution made earlier this week. It remains to be seen what Yan has done to earn the sanctions, having previously posted a "no to war" image on Instagram.
Yan also told rival Aljamain Sterling he was attempting to politicise their rematch when he shared a photo of he and his team with the Ukraine flag. But he rarely gets political on his social media pages, and it doesn't appear that he has taken an outward stance on the conflict at UFC events.
The list is said to be made up of sportspeople who “systematically and actively support the war against Ukraine, legitimise the military invasion and genocide of Ukrainians by the armed forces of the Russian Federation." Yan is joined on it by the likes of Alexander Shlemenko, Alexander Emelianenko and controversial gymnast Ivan Kuliak.
Two heavyweight boxers who are well-known to British fight fans; Alexander Povetkin and Nikolai Valuev, also landed on the list. Valuev, the seven-foot monster heavyweight who fought David Haye for the world title, is now a politician in his native Russia. Povetkin is well-known in the UK for his battles with Anthony Joshua, Hughie Fury, David Price and Dillian Whyte.
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Yan is currently in training for his return to the octagon after his second consecutive loss. He had never tasted back-to-back defeats before stepping in with O'Malley, and he believes that he did enough to win their razor-close fight which ended in a split decision for the American.
The Russian has also made it clear that he is considering leaving the UFC after the result, saying shortly after his defeat that he may never fight in the promotion again. Former two-weight world champion Daniel Cormier noted on his ESPN show DC & RC that the fighter was considering leaving, after posting "f*** the judges" on social media.
“Ryan, a little inside baseball, Petr Yan is so disappointed in this decision," Cormier revealed . "Petr Yan is so disappointed in the decision against O'Malley, that I’m hearing word that this guy may want to look at something different down the line in terms of his career because he just does not feel like, maybe the organisation doesn’t have his back. It’s crazy.”
