Outside Source
Yan defeated Merab Dvalishvili in a rematch at UFC 323 this past December to win the bantamweight title for the second time. “No Mercy” claims a UFC employee approached him after the post-fight press conference and asked him to hand over his belt. The staff member allegedly handed Yan a replica instead, saying he already had an original belt from his first title reign. However, Yan refused to hand over the fruits of his hard earned victory. The Russian was disappointed with the whole affair, regardless of whoever was responsible for it.
A New History
“I got the real, original championship belt, I had it over my shoulder,” Yan said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “We went and did the press conference and as soon as I was coming off the press conference stage, one of the UFC employees says, ‘I gotta get that belt and I’m gonna give you this one.’ And I said, ‘Wait, what do you mean you gotta get this? This is the belt, I want this belt. Why do you need this?’ And he said, ‘Well, you already have this belt. I need to give you this version.’ And he showed be basically a replica of a belt.
“And I said, ‘No. How would I get home with a replica? It doesn’t matter where my other belt is, it doesn’t matter when I won it, how I won it.’ This is a new history, this is a new chapter, this is a new belt, and I wasn’t gonna be leaving without it. I feel like it wasn’t really nice or correct from the standpoint of the company or the standpoint of the employee of the company, to try and take my original belt.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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