5 reasons why Sean O'Malley might beat Petr Yan (and 5 reasons why he might not)

#8. Can win: Sean O'Malley's counter-punching

All counterpunchers search for solutions to the same problem: how to draw their opponents into their counters. The first step to doing so entails convincing their opponents to come forward into range. Against Petr Yan, O'Malley won't encounter the same problem due to the Russian's preference for coming forward.

A staple of Yan's fighting style is the application of his boxing through heavy pressure. 'No Mercy' closes the distance right from the onset of a bout.

While Sean O'Malley might not necessarily be able to disarm the former UFC bantamweight champion with his feints, he will have far more success walking Yan onto his shots due to the Russian's willingness to come forward in order to implement his primary boxing game.

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#7. Can't win: Yan's superiority at close range

Although 'No Mercy' always looks to apply pressure against his foes, he doesn't do so recklessly. Compared to Kris Moutinho, who 'Sugar' punished for following him linearly, Petr Yan uses lateral movement and crisp footwork.

Against an opponent who is trying to ward off his pressure by retreating and circling, the Russian cuts off their escape angles by stepping with them.

In doing so, he ensures that he sandwiches his foes between himself and the fence. As the longer and rangier fighter, Sean O'Malley will struggle if he's backed up against the fence with Yan crowding his space. His long arms won't find the space and leverage needed for to land punches with power, while Yan's shorter arms will be of greater use in such close range.

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#6. Can win: O'Malley's stance-switching

While most fans remember the first matchup between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 as a complete washout, the first two rounds were fairly competitive.

Part of this was due to Sterling's ability to fight from both southpaw and orthodox. Throughout his career, Yan has benefitted from being the one capable of switching stances in most of his bouts.

The advantage he gains from that ability is that he is the one who determines the alignment in every striking exchange. Against an orthodox opponent, he can switch to southpaw to easily align them with his power-side and dictate when his and opponent's guards are open or closed. This becomes difficult to do against opponents who are also capable of stance-switching like Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley.

By switching stances with Yan, O'Malley will deny the Russian the chance to determine the alignment of the striking exchanges, while also forcing him to readjust and make more reads than necessary when closing the distance.

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#5. Can't win: Petr Yan parries kicks

A large portion of Sean O'Malley's arsenal consists of kicks. While his low kicks will likely trouble Yan due to the Russian's overexposed lead leg and poor defense against the attack, Yan possesses a formidable defense against kicks that target his midsection and head.

One of the ways in which 'No Mercy' stopped Aljamain Sterling from kicking him without end in both bouts was by parrying. Yan often parries body kicks and high kicks all the way across himself, enabling him to move himself into angles that position him towards his opponent's open side, exposing them to his counterpunches.

Against O'Malley, who frequently targets his foe's midsection with kicks, 'No Mercy' can use his chosen defense of parrying kicks — either all the way across himself or at his mid-line — and lunging in with punches to the head and body when O'Malley's kicking leg is still airborne and his stance is in a poor position for him to absorb blows.

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#4. Can win: His long range

Sean O'Malley is the tallest and longest fighter in the UFC bantamweight division. Outside of Cory Sandhagen, no other fighter matches his physical dimensions.

ot only is 'Sugar' tall and long, he also makes excellent use of his reach with his jab and range. Often-times, O'Malley stands just beyond his foe's kicking range, causing them to kick ahead of themselves and expose them to his counterpunches.

When he imposes such a long range that it only benefits him as the longer fighter, his opponents are forced to work their way into punching range. While low kicks are strong weapons against O'Malley, Yan is not a prolific kicker and opts primarily to enter range behind an airtright high guard while relying on his defensive boxing.

Unfortunately, due to his shorter arms and inferior height, boxing as a means of entering range against an opponent who keeps his opponents outside of even kicking range will be a far more difficult endeavor.