Toronto, ON — Fighting out of Burlington, Ontario, Canadian bantamweight Serhiy Sidey will make his promotional debut at UFC 297 in January.
It just so happens that Sidey (10-1) will also be facing the last man he beat when he enters the octagon in Toronto that night.
That would be Ramon Taveras, who Sidey defeated via TKO on this past season of Dana White’s Contender Series. While White opted to grant Sidey a UFC contract for the finish, the UFC President and now CEO felt the stoppage was premature — and gave Taveras a second shot on the show.
Weeks later, Taveras won his second Contender Series fight, and the rematch between the pair was announced that very night. That’s exactly the scenario Serhiy Sidey was hoping for, he told Cageside Press during Tuesday’s UFC 297 kick-off press conference.
“When he won, I saw Sean Shelby whispering Dana White something, and I tried to get on top of it. I made an Instagram post like right away,” Sidey recalled. “I knew it was going to happen, but I tried to make it happen in Toronto. So I made that post, asked for it in Toronto and yeah, Dana announced it that night, that it was going to be in Toronto. Which was wild.”
In terms of preparing for Ramon Taveras for the second straight occasion, Sidey suggested that he still has lots to show.
“Adjustment wise, I barely did any of what I’m able to do. My game plan, all these things, they’re still in the unknown. A lot of the stuff I wanted to show off I never even got to show off because that fight ended so early. We’re just going to keep adjusting. My mindset is one percent better every day. I’m trying to get one percent better every day so that the Serhiy that shows up on January 20 is a completely different monster than the guy who fought Ramon in September.”
That would be quite the monster indeed.
Watch the full UFC 297 kick-off press conference with Serhiy Sidey, Charles Jourdain, Marc-Andre Barriault, and Mike Malott above.
