Exclusive: Jimmie Rivera Eyes Eventual Rematch Against Petr Yan

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

Ahead of his short-notice featherweight matchup with Cody 'The Spartan' Stamann at UFC Fight Island on July 15th. - ever-present bantamweight contender, Jimmie 'El Terror' Rivera has his sights set on avenging his most recent career loss.

The New Jersey native will return to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 238 last June, where he dropped a unanimous decision defeat to this weekend's vacant bantamweight title challenger, Petr 'No Mercy' Yan. In the highly-exciting back-and-forth, the promotional perfect, Yan managed to take a judging win, however, Tiger Schulmann product, Rivera - envisions a rematch in the future.

Speaking with Colin Crandall from the MMA Power Hour, Rivera who is on his way to Yas Island in Abu Dhabi - explained how he had learned a lot from his defeat to Yan, and how he expects to stand opposite him once more.

"My last fight was (Petr) Yan - was an exciting fight, and we beat the sh*t out of each other - I had a blast, you know," Rivera said. "I went in there - I learned a couple things, and from there, you know - we went the whole three five-minute rounds and it was fun. It was a good learning experience. I'm looking forward to hopefully get that rematch with him eventually - gotta work my way back up the ladder, but, you know." 

"I learned a lot from that fight and I lost a very small portion of that fight, which kinda, you know - you bring it up, and it's like - all I had to do was do something different for the first or second round, the last thirty-seconds," Rivera said. "I tried to coast 'cause I knew I was ahead, but it didn't work out to my benefit."

Prior to his defeat to Yan - the 31-year-old had faced the murderer's row at 135-pounds. Rivera had dropped a unanimous judging loss to now number-one contender, the similar division mainstay, Aljamain Sterling. Rebounding from a devastating high-kick stoppage against one-time title challenger, 'Magic' Marlon Moraes - Rivera notched a unanimous judging of his own against two-time flyweight championship challenger, John Dodson.

In other career wins, Rivera managed to hand former WEC featherweight best, Urijah Faber a decision loss, as well as Brazilian trio, kickboxing standout, Thomas Almedia, and grappling pair, Iuri Alcântara, and Pedro Munhoz.