During a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Dana White confirmed that Petr Yan will defend his Bantamweight belt at UFC 256. Yan will face #1 contender Aljamain Sterling and the fight will serve as the co-main event for UFC 256. It seems Sterling was unaware of the bout from what he Tweeted on Thursday…
Yan Will Be Sterling’s Best Test In His MMA Career
Sterling is currently on a five fight win streak with notable victories over Jimmy Rivera, Pedro Munhoz, and Cory Sandhagen. After his loss to Marlon Moraes, Sterling made major improvement in his striking and focused more on his dominant submission skills. Yan is no easy task for Sterling and will be Sterling’s toughest fight yet.
What Yan did to both Jose Aldo and Uriah Faber was both spectacular and absolutely terrifying. Sure, you could argue both Aldo and Faber were past their prime, but Yan not only defeat them but put on a clinic and make it look so easy. Petr is 15-1 in his MMA career with 7 victories coming by way of knock out. Sterling’s last loss was almost three years ago to Marlon Moraes. Moares knocked out Sterling in the second round with a walk off KO knee to the head. If Sterling wants to strike with Yan he’s going to be in for a long night. His best bet at the Bantamweight title is securing a submission win, which will be tough considering Petr has never been submitted.
If Aljamain does in fact beat Petr at UFC 256 it will go down as a major upset. Yan is a phenomenal striker and is current riding a 10 fight win streak. I think Yan will defeat Sterling fairly easily, but in MMA anything can happen. Yan vs Sterling will serve as the co-main event for UFC 256. The card will be headlined by Amanda Nunes vs Megan Anderson for the UFC Women’s Featherweight belt.
