Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling OFF UFC 256 Card

The UFC Bantamweight Title fight planned for UFC 256 won’t be happening in 2020.

Petr Yan was scheduled to put his gold on the line against Aljamain Sterling on December 12. MMA Island was the first to report the news. MMAFighting.com later followed up, reporting that a personal issue on Yan’s end is to blame for the bout being removed from the UFC 256 event.

Yan last competed back on July 12. On that night, Yan stopped Jose Aldo via fifth-round TKO to capture the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Sterling’s most recent outing took place on June 6. He submitted Cory Sandhagen in the first round via rear-naked choke.

The UFC 256 card has been hit hard with cancelations. The UFC reportedly wanted to book Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns for the UFC Welterweight Title for the event but that plan wasn’t feasible. A women’s featherweight title clash between champion Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson was scheduled but that fight also needs a new date.

With Yan vs. Sterling being off the card, the UFC is already working on booking Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno. Both men are fresh off first-round victories at UFC 255 this past weekend, November 21. The bout hasn’t been finalized but both men have verbally agreed to the flyweight title fight.