PFL 2 2022: Brendan Loughnane Says Petr Yan “Deserves a Lot of Credit” For Little-Known Charitable Efforts

Featherweight Brendan Loughnane was knocked out of the PFL post-season by Movlid Khaybulaev last year. He makes his return this Thursday at PFL 2, and ahead of his fight against Ryoji Kudo, spoke about what it would mean to him to win a major title.

“I’ve had a chip on my shoulder since I started MMA, really. I want to win this stuff, I want to be a world champion,” Loughnane (21-4) told media outlets including Cageside Press during this week’s PFL 2 media day. “So I guess if you call that a chip, that’s what it is. Off-season don’t really exist for me, I just love training every day, that’s what I do. I don’t believe in camps either. I just add a few things towards the end of camps like sprints, bit more sparring, things like that. But really, I train all year round, I just love the sport.”

A world championship would mean “everything” to the British fighter, he added. “We’ve only ever had one MMA world champion, and that was Michael Bisping. Since then, before then or after then, we’ve not had one. So for me, it would be the biggest thing ever, for my country and for myself. I came this close last year, and I will not be missing it this year.”

Loughnane just missed working with Khamzat Chimaev in his latest camp. “I actually missed Chimaev for one day. I landed and he’d just left, he’d been there for a month before me.” But he did get to work with former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan once again, and had high praise for Yan’s work outside the cage.

“Petr Yan, this is the second training camp I’ve done with Petr Yan. Great training partner, amazing person as well. This guy is a really, really good-hearted fellow.” Loughnane revealed that Yan donated “quite a bit of money” to help a woman who had broken her nose in a banana boat accident while the pair were in camp. “Then there was a cleaner in the hotel we were staying at, bought him a motorbike so he could get to and from work. And then doesn’t publicize any of this. But Petr’s a good guy, he deserves a lot of credit in the sport.”

Watch the full PFL 2 2022 media day appearance from Brendan Loughnane above. The event takes place on Thursday, April 28, 2022 at the ESports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. More coverage can be found below.