Dana White confirms Aljamain Sterling as the next UFC Bantamweight Title challenger
At tonight's UFC Vegas 7, Frankie Edgar marked his successful debut at bantamweight, as 'The Answer' put away division contender Pedro Munhoz in a thrilling main event. However, as things stand, division champion Petr Yan will be defending his strap against Aljamain Sterling next.
In tonight's UFC Vegas 7 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White confirmed that for Petr Yan's first defense of the UFC Bantamweight Championship, the Russian fighter will indeed be facing 'The Funk Master' Aljamain Sterling.
White stated that "it's more than likely going to be Sterling" when he was asked about the next challenger for the 135-lb strap. Later on, Aljamain Sterling didn't waste much time in reacting to the news and had this to say:
Sterling, who is currently on a five-fight winning streak, last won at UFC 250 when he stopped Cory Sandhagen in just over a minute in their bout in June. With such an impressive track record in the promotion, the talented bantamweight contender has deservedly earned a shot at the 135-lb title.
As for the champion Petr Yan, the Russian won the title at UFC 251 on Fight Island when he put away veteran Jose Aldo in brutal fashion. The win marked Yan's first-ever title accomplishment in the UFC, as he nicely followed up on Henry Cejudo vacating the title after his retirement at UFC 249.
When could we expect Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling?
As things stand, it remains to be seen when Petr Yan will be defending his UFC Bantamweight Championship against Aljamain Sterling. However, it is pretty likely that the title fight between the two will go down by the end of 2020.
Aljamain Sterling will be heading into the bout with a lot of momentum after putting away the likes of Jimmie Rivera and the talented Pedro Munhoz in 2019.
On the other hand, the champ Petr Yan is currently undefeated in the UFC, having already beaten a veteran in Urijah Faber, as well as comprehensively putting away the likes of Jimmie Rivera, John Dodson, and Douglas Silva de Andrade on course to his historic title win at UFC 251.