Petr
Yan is expected to make his first bantamweight title defense
against Aljamain
Sterling in the UFC
256 co-headliner.
Yahoo
Sports was first to report the matchup. Contracts have not been
signed as of yet, but the promotion is working on finalizing the
135-pound bout. UFC 256 takes place on Dec. 12 and also includes a
women’s featherweight title tilt between Amanda
Nunes and Megan
Anderson.
Yan takes a 10-bout professional winning streak into his matchup
with Sterling. That stretch includes seven straight victories in
the Octagon, with notable triumphs over the likes of Urijah
Faber, Jimmie
Rivera and John Dodson.
“No Mercy” claimed the vacant bantamweight crown with a fifth-round
TKO of Jose Aldo at
UFC 251 on July 11.
Since suffering a first-round knockout defeat to Marlon
Moraes in December 2017, Sterling has reeled off five
consecutive wins in UFC competition. Most recently, “The Funk
Master” submitted Cory
Sandhagen in the opening stanza at UFC 250 on June 6.
Sterling’s 11-3 UFC mark also includes noteworthy triumphs over the
likes of Pedro
Munhoz, Rivera, Cody
Stamann, Renan Barao
and Takeya
Mizugaki, to name a few.