Petr Yan will make the first defense of his UFC bantamweight championship when he squares off with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 256 on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas.
UFC president Dana White revealed the news to Yahoo! Sports’s Kevin Iole on Wednesday. He indicated that Yan vs. Sterling would be the UFC 256 co- main event with Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson taking the headlining slot.
UFC 256 was originally supposed to be headlined by welterweight champion Kamaru Usman putting his belt on the line opposite Gilbert Burns. Usman, however, won’t be quite ready to go by then, so that fight has once again been put on the backburner.
A two-division UFC champion, Nunes will be defending her featherweight belt when she faces Anderson.
The addition of Yan vs. Sterling keeps the UFC’s final pay-per-view event of the year set as a championship doubleheader.
Yan (15-1) won the vacant bantamweight belt with his win over former featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 251 in July. Henry Cejudo vacated the title when he retired in May after defending it against Dominick Cruz.
Yan is undefeated in his seven UFC bouts and has won his 10 most recent bouts.
Sterling (19-3) has won his last five bouts, including a quick finish of fellow contender Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 in June.
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Dana White reveals Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling for bantamweight belt at UFC 256