“Yeah, he’ll get the shot after that.” That was the line from Dana White to reporters about Aljamain Sterling’s position as top contender ahead of Petr Yan’s planned fight with Jose Aldo, back in June. Those words came just after the longtime Serra-Longo fighter choked out streaking prospect Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250.
What a difference a month can make.
On July 12th, in Abu Dhabi, at UFC 251, Yan handed Aldo a 5th round TKO loss to take the vacated bantamweight title—becoming only the second Russian fighter in MMA history to win a non-tournament UFC belt.