Petr Yan’s bantamweight title clash against Aljamain Sterling has been rescheduled for UFC 259 on March 6.
As first reported by MMA Junkie and later confirmed by multiple sources, UFC 259 will now have three title fights. The previously reported light heavyweight title bout between Jan Blachowicz and Israel Adesanya is now official in addition to Amanda Nunes defending her featherweight championship against Megan Anderson. What has now come to light is the addition of Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan to the card in what will make for Yan’s first bantamweight title defense.
Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling were originally scheduled to face one another at UFC 256 on December 12, but Yan had to withdraw from the bout due to personal reasons. Yan never wavered on his desire to defend against Sterling, so it was a formality that the fight would be rebooked. And we now have a hard date on when the fight will take place.
Petr Yan won the vacant bantamweight championship at UFC 251 when he defeated Jose Aldo via 5th-round TKO to make it 10 consecutive victories for the new champion. Yan’s opponent Aljamain Sterling is also riding a lengthy winning streak of five consecutive wins. Most recently, Sterling defeated Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 to punch his ticket to a world title shot.
Now with three world title fights booked, the current lineup for UFC 259 consists of the following bouts:
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: Jan Blachowicz © vs. Israel Adesanya
UFC Bantamweight Championship Bout: Petr Yan © vs. Aljamain Sterling
UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship Bout: Amanda Nunes © vs. Megan Anderson
Thiago Santos vs. Aleksandar Rakic
Joseph Benavidez vs. Askar Askarov
Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney
Islam Makhachev vs. Drew Dober
Sean Brady vs. Jake Matthews
Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones
Aalon Cruz vs. Uros Medic
Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinoza
Who do you predict will walk away from UFC 259 as the bantamweight champion: Petr Yan or Aljamain Sterling?
