Aljamain Sterling sets bar high for UFC 273, promises to ‘dominate’ Yan in ‘one round’

Aljamain Sterling is not only trying to unify his UFC bantamweight title with rival Petr Yan tomorrow night (Sat., April 9, 2022) at UFC 273 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., but “Funk Master” is hoping to remind fight fans just how good of a fighter he truly is.

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BLOCKBUSTER BANTAMWEIGHT BATTLE! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Newark, N.J., for the first time in more than three years on Sat., May 6, 2023, with a blockbuster Bantamweight collision inside Prudential Center that will see Aljamain Sterling attempt another successful title defense against returning two-division titleholder and former gold medal-winning Olympic wrestler, Henry Cejudo. In UFC 288’s last-minute pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, former Welterweight title challenger, Gilbert Burns, locks horns with No. 4-seeded contender, Belal Muhammad, in a five-round, 170-pound No. 1 contender eliminator match.

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Sterling, who hasn’t competed since first meeting Yan at UFC 259 just over one year ago, is a massive underdog for his reboot with “No Mercy” this weekend in Jacksonville. Due in part to Yan’s UFC track record and recent decision win over Cory Sandhagen back at UFC 267, not too many people are picking Sterling to win the rematch and walk out of the cage the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion.

Still, Sterling has nothing but confidence entering his co-main event clash with Yan. Sterling hasn’t lost since a knockout defeat to Marlon Moraes back in 2017 and believes he has all of the ingredients to not only beat Yan, but to also become the first fighter to stop the Russian fighter inside of the cage.

“We will see what the future has in store for me, I got to make sure I get past this guy first and I truly believe I’m going to dominate this guy in one round. I’m going to remind the world the last one was just a little hiccup,” Sterling said Thursday at UFC 273’s pre-fight press conference (watch HERE). “At the end of the day, I’m here to create a legacy and this is what confidence looks like. Everyone can have an opinion, at the end of the day we are out here doing it. So, it’s okay to have an opinion. It doesn’t matter what you say or how you feel, it’s how we show up and how perform. I’m going to give you guys a great performance and that’s it.”

It will be easier said than done considering Yan was winning the first fight with Sterling before he landed the infamous illegal knee. Sterling has had over a year to prepare for the rematch and heal up some of his injuries so things could get interesting tomorrow night at UFC 273.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 273 fight card on fight night, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

For more news and notes on UFC 273 be sure to visit our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated, revised, and finalized “Volkanovski vs. Korean Zombie” fight card and ESPN+ PPV lineup click here.