Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan were supposed to fight for the bantamweight belt towards the end of last year. However, visa issues meant that ‘No Mercy’ could not travel to the United States, and therefore the fight was canceled. 

At the time it was a blow for both MMA fans and the fighters themselves, however, the situation has played out well. ‘Funkmaster’ and ‘No Mercy’ will now be one of three title fights on a stacked UFC 259 card to take place in March. It’ll feature Israel Adesanya taking on Jan Blachowicz in the main event. 

Leading up to the fight there has been a bit of trash talk between an otherwise subdued ‘Aljo’.

Yan tweeted, “Hey big mouth @funkmasterMMA why you went quiet recently? Don’t worry I’m not gonna beat you up too hard. I will put you to sleep nicely, you won’t even realize what happened! And your friend Merab can get the same treatment from my bro Denis Lavrentyev on the same night too”

To which Sterling replied, “Gonna Khabib you soOoOooo bad!! LOLOLOLOL. Oh by the way, why’d you pull out the fight, Pull-Out Pete?”

Can Aljamain Sterling derail a 10-fight win streak?

Aljamain Sterling has a tough task ahead of him in Petr Yan. The Russian fighter has not lost a fight since 2016 and has been on a tear ever since joining the UFC. 

‘Funkmaster’ on the other hand,  is on a five-fight win streak and has absolutely demolished everyone put in front of him, most recently Cory Sandhagen. Therefore, he is rightfully the number one contender for the bantamweight strap.

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Although Sterling is not best known for his boxing, he will have a four-inch reach advantage going into the fight. However, he will be most comfortable on the ground as he is a high-level black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Matt Serra and has secured 42% of his wins via submission. 

The fight will be an excellent test for the puncher, ‘No Mercy’, against a highly dangerous and accomplished blackbelt who is extremely good on the ground. Both men have an even number of strengths and weaknesses going into the fight, and it should be evenly contested.