Petr Yan did not give his all when fighting Cory Sandhagen.
That is an incredible thing to say, considering the insane pace put on by both Yan and Sandhagen in their UFC 267 co-main event interim title bout. The two went back and forth, with Sandhagen winning the first round, before getting shut down for the rest of the Fight of the Night affair.
However speaking on The MMA Hour, Yan revealed the only reason why Sandhagen was able to take that first round away from him. He says that he was only collecting info on Sandhagen, and that by the end of the fight, he had only given about 70% of his skillset and cardio to win the fight.
“The only reason he won the first round was because I gave it away. My goal was just to pressure, counterpunch a little bit, but I only used like 30% of my abilities in the first two rounds. Then my goal was to add, add more with each round, but I believe I ended this fight with only 70% of my abilities, and cardio, and conditioning,” Yan said.
“First round I used to learn how he moves, how he attacks, to gain the data. After that, I can use that knowledge against him in later rounds.”
This is not far off from the gameplan that Petr Yan typically follows; making reads for a round or two, then using what he learned to dominate opponents. That said, given the variety of strikes thrown and the pace at which these two fought, it is insane to think that by the end of it, he still had almost an entire third of his energy and skills remaining, that were not used across the course of this fight.
Check out the full interview with Petr Yan below:
