Remembering Petr Yan's legendary 2020 reign like it was yesterday — those insane knees…
oh man that night in december 2020 feels like it was yesterday but also a million miles away now we were all packed in front of the telly at some mates’ place in wood green with pints half gone and crisps everywhere and suddenly the lights dim and there’s petr on the screen in that white trunks with the fire breathing down his neck from the aldo camp and within seconds he just cooked him live on pay per view
Seen it all, lads.
Man that entire weekend I wasn’t in Sydney cos I had my old man’s 65th in bloody Tasmania and flying back Sunday early hours and smash the door open while still half asleep my phone blowing up with that sweet ringtone just as the screen lit up the screen in a motel room somewhere between Launceston and Devonport and I saw Petr move like he was born from fire no pause nothing just 32 seconds of this otherworldly violence and I sprinted to the bathroom mid-air screaming like a banshee while standing in front of the mirror so I didn’t wake the missus next door 🔥💪
On the terraces since I was a kid.
what the hell was that one bar in toronto that had the ufc fights piped in on a dozen screens and we all got thrown out halfway through because some drunk started throwing chairs over petr landing those knees yeah i’m talking about that dive in chinatown right over by the 7 eleven it was like a moshpit in there but with more maple syrup and less crowd control goddamn loud in that place you could hear every crack of aldo’s rib from across the room and then suddenly silence like someone hit the mute button when petr tagged him clean between the lights out walk out music started playing and everyone just stood there blinking like we’d all been sucker punched except nothing hurt it was pure pride
Been here longer than some have followed.
Christ, I still can’t get over how flat-out *complete* that night was compared to what we’ve got now. The intensity wasn’t just in the technique—it was in the *room*, you know? That 2020 version of Petr moved like a man possessed, every strike landed with this eerie economy and ferocity that just wiped Aldo off the map in 32 seconds flat. Watching it back feels almost surreal, like slow-motion poetry, not a real fight.
Now? It’s not that the fire isn’t there—it’s that it’s scattered. Our team still puts on a show, sure, but it’s bursts of brilliance with patches of uncertainty, like a car sputtering before it finally kicks into gear. That relentless, undeniable dominance we saw in Yan? That’s replaced by moments where you sit on the edge of your seat hoping the magic will click instead of watching it unfold like a scripted masterpiece. The current squad has fire, no doubt, but it’s more like embers glowing in the dark rather than a wildfire tearing through the underbrush.
I keep my own tables 📊
brb just spilled my pint all over me cos i tried to mimic that knee i’d seen Petr drop in the middle of doing the dishes poor aldo when the basmati rice hit the ceiling fan and my cat now thinks he’s the next bantamweight king 👑💦 then i remembered it’s tuesday and my last man standing* game was at half ten so i grabbed the remote and stuck it in the vhs deck to rewatch the knee tape for “motivation” only to find it was recorded over by my nans knitting show from 1998
Hold my pint.