A pair of title bouts featuring familiar foes are on tap for
UFC 272.
UFC president Dana White informed broadcast partner
ESPN on Wednesday that the Alexander
Volkanovski–Max
Holloway trilogy will take place at UFC 272 on March 5 at the
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Aljamain
Sterling and Petr Yan will
square off for a second time at the same event. Contracts have not
yet been signed for either bout, but both are expected to be
finalized soon.
Volkanovski owns a pair of victories over Holloway. The 33-year-old
City Kickoxing standout claimed the featherweight crown with a
unanimous decision triumph over Holloway at UFC 245 before
defending the belt with a highly-contentious split verdict in their
rematch at UFC 251. Most recently, he defended the strap with a
decision win over Brian
Ortega in a “Fight of the Year” candidate at UFC 266 this past
September to run his professional winning streak to 20.
Holloway has earned his spot as the top contender after those
back-to-back losses against Volkanovski. He authored Sherdog.com’s
“Beatdown of the Year” for 2021 with a masterful performance
against Calvin
Kattar at UFC on ABC 1, and then returned to action for another
five-round victory over Yair
Rodriguez in the UFC Fight Night 197 headliner this past
November.
Sterling captured bantamweight gold in controversial fashion at UFC
259, when an illegal knee from Yan in the fourth round of their
title tilt resulted in a disqualification victory for “The Funk
Master.” Sterling is currently on a six-bout UFC winning streak
that includes triumphs over the likes of Cory
Sandhagen, Pedro
Munhoz and Jimmie
Rivera. Sterling was supposed to face Yan in a rematch this
past October but the fight was postponed as the Serra-Longo Fight
Team member recovered from neck surgery.
Yan, who most felt was winning the fight with Sterling before the
untimely foul, claimed the interim belt with a decision win over
Cory
Sandhagen in his most recent outing at UFC 267. Prior to the
Sterling bout, “No Mercy” was on a 10-bout professional winning
streak that included a thrashing of Jose Aldo to
claim the vacant bantamweight throne at UFC 251.