Petr Yan has built a reputation among UFC fans as a must-see fighter, but this past Saturday at UFC 318, the sport lost one of the other athletes on that list.

Following the main event of the UFC’s most recent pay-per-view card in New Orleans, where Max Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier to retain the “BMF” title, Poirier officially laid the gloves down in the center of the octagon and announced his retirement from the sport.

Yan is set to return to action this weekend at UFC Abu Dhabi when he faces surging bantamweight Marcus McGhee. Ahead of the matchup, the former 135-pound champ reacted to Poirier as a fighter, and his final fight.

“I think it was a great and exciting fight,” Yan told MMA Fighting. “And speaking about Dustin, I think he had a great, amazing career. He had a lot of big fights, a lot of exciting fights. He’s been in a lot of wars and of course, he wanted probably to go out on a win.

“But it’s just a sport, you know? His opponent Max Holloway is also an amazing athlete, also deserves to win.”

While Poirier experienced his own ups and downs in the sport, Yan has as well. After losing the bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling via disqualification at UFC 259 in March 2021, Yan dropped three of his next four—including a three-fight skid that included a decision loss to Sterling in a rematch, along with losses to Sean O’Malley and current champion Merab Dvalishvili.

Yan bounced back in 2024 with a pair of victories against Song Yadong and fellow former UFC champion Deiveson Figueiredo.

The 32-year-old can’t pinpoint exactly what has caused the change in momentum, but whatever it is, it appears to be working.

“I don’t know what’s different in the mindset,” Yan explained. “I’m still hungry, I still want to win and become the next title challenger.

“That’s what motivates me right now — to get this win and to challenge for the belt again.”