It appears that the bantamweight title rematch between Aljamain
Sterling and Petr Yan will
take place approximately one month later than originally
anticipated.
The fight was recently announced for
UFC 272 on March 5, but Sterling revealed on his “Weekly
Scraps” podcast that the title unification bout will likely move to
UFC
273 on April 9.
“Quick update, I know you guys probably seen some of the news but
yes, they are talking about pushing our fight back to April,”
Sterling said. “Not because of me. This is what I was told, that
Yan isn’t vaccinated. Yan isn’t vaccinated so he can’t fight in
March. ‘I’m Yan and I’m not vaccinated so I can’t fight in March.’
I actually respect his gangster. If this is the real reason, I
actually respect his stance. I respect it but it doesn’t make any
sense and I’m making fun of it because it’s like was he going to be
vaccinated in April? I don’t think so.
“So what are we doing? I just want to know when we’re fighting
because dude, it’s about time we get to punch each other in the
face. Wouldn’t you guys say? I think so. So hopefully we can figure
this out sooner rather than later and we can unify these belts and
see who is really the guy.”
Yan and Sterling initially squared off at UFC 259, where “The Funk
Master” claimed bantamweight gold via disqualification when his
opponent landed an illegal knee 4:29 into the fourth round of their
March 2021 bout. The rematch was initially slated for UFC 267 in
October, but Sterling withdrew as a result of lingering issues from
neck surgery.
If Sterling’s statement proves true, UFC 272 is suddenly looking
light at the top of the card after Max
Holloway was forced to withdraw from a proposed featherweight
championship trilogy against Alexander
Volkanovski in the evening’s main event. Promotion officials
have yet to confirm the relocation of the Sterling-Yan rematch, or
if Volkanovski will receive a new opponent at UFC 272.
On my podcast, The Weekly Scraps, we talk
about the reason why my title fight is being pushed back to
April.
Mr. Potato-Head can’t duck me forever!
–
Watch Full episode in my biohttps://t.co/r7HWJMibRc
#TheWeeklyScraps
#AndStill
#UnfinishedBusiness
#Podcast pic.twitter.com/zl8Czx3pck— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA)
January 11, 2022