Aljamain Sterling gets the belt wrapped around his waist at UFC 259. He won the title after Petr Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee.
Aljamain Sterling vs Petr Yan 2 booked for UFC 272
There will be no more waiting for the UFC bantamweight title to be unified. After nearly a year since their first meeting ended in a disqualification, champion Aljamain Sterling will face interim champion Petr Yan to settle the nearly year-long feud between the two. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported Wednesday that the rematch between Sterling and Yan has been scheduled to take place at UFC 272 in March.
At UFC 259 in March of 2021, Yan was seemingly coasting through his fight against Sterling when he landed an illegal knee to Sterling’s head and he was unable to continue in the fight, leading to disqualification for Yan, and crowning Aljamain Sterling the new champion. However, since the fight, Sterling has not competed inside the Octagon due to a neck injury that required surgery and canceled their previously scheduled rematch back in October.
Although Sterling has not competed since the first meeting against Yan, the former champion has competed. Back at UFC 267 in October, Yan fought Cory Sandhagen for the interim title and won by unanimous decision, setting up the rematch and unification title fight. The disqualification is the only loss during Yan’s UFC tenure, and he received plenty of criticism for the illegal strike that cost him the title.
Including his fight against Yan, Aljamain Sterling is currently riding a six-fight winning streak picking up wins over the likes of Yan, Cory Sandhagen, Pedro Munhoz, and Jimmie Rivera to name a few of his victories.
It was also announced on Wednesday that UFC 272 will feature a trilogy fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, making it a PPV event featuring two title fights which are also highly-anticipated rematches.
Here are the rest of the fights that are currently scheduled to take place at UFC 272, including the two title fights:
- Aljamain Sterling vs Petr Yan (bantamweight title)
- Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway (featherweight title)
- Edson Barboza vs Bryce Mitchell
- Jessica Eye vs Manon Fiorot
- Maryna Moroz vs Mariya Agapova
- Dustin Jacoby vs Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Tim Elliott vs Tagir Ulanbekov
- Marina Rodriguez vs Xiaonan Yan
With two grudge matches set to headline the card, UFC 272 is building up to be one of the most anticipated fight cards for the UFC to begin their 2022 calendar year. It may also provide closure to the beef between Sterling and Yan, who have taken their feud to the public eye and social media.
