UFC 272 is slated to happen on March 5, exactly two months from today. That means we are currently in the part of the timeline where the bouts start to get announced and the card begins coming together. Well fans got a pretty big dose of that today with some major announcements coming about the event as two major championship rematches were announced today.
Bantamweight Championship Rematch: Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan II
The first of those championship fights to be announced is a bantamweight championship rematch of the controversial fight between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. The news came via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
This one’s a long time coming. UFC 272, March 5, per Dana White. Champ, Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) vs. Interim Champ, Petr Yan (@PetrYanUFC). Can’t ask for more of a backstory than this going into a title rematch. Redemption for Yan. Chance to shut soooo many up for Aljo. pic.twitter.com/oO1gjF3ZJJ
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 5, 2022
The two first met on March 6, 2021 at UFC 259. Yan was the champion at the time they met, but after landing an illegal knee on Sterling in round four from which Sterling could not continue, Sterling became the first person in UFC history to win a championship via disqualification.
The fight has been marred in controversy obviously, and Yan and Sterling have not exactly been friendly towards each other since then. Sterling then opted to get a neck surgery after the fight, which put him on the shelf for even longer.
The two were initially scheduled to rematch at UFC 267 in October 2021, however Sterling pulled out of that fight as his neck recovery wasn’t at a state he felt comfortable with yet.
With Sterling out, the UFC kept Yan on the 267 card and replaced Sterling with a short notice Cory Sandhagen, where the two fought for the interim bantamweight championship in what some considered to be the fight of the year.
So now the current bantamweight champion Sterling will meet the interim bantamweight champion Yan in a unification bout almost exactly a year to the day later in what’s sure to be a heated meeting in the buildup and afterwards. Don’t be surprised if this one gets ugly in all kinds of ways.
The Featherweight Championship Trilogy We Needed: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway
The second of the major championship fights to be announced was the trilogy fight between Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski and Hawaii’s Max Holloway. The news again came via ESPN’s Okamoto.
Trilogy is on. Rounds 11-15 will take place at UFC 272 on March 5, per Dana White. Alexander Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) vs. Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA). Two of the best in the world, p4p. Huge stakes. Who you got? pic.twitter.com/SpUpwD72AW
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 5, 2022
This one of the fights we NEEDED to see in 2022. Volkanovski and Holloway have fought for the featherweight championship twice now, and both times fans walked away feeling like we didn’t have a definitive answer about who the best featherweight in the world was.
The two first met at UFC 245 in December, 2019. Holloway was headed into yet another championship defense but Volkanovski was an impending problem for the division. Volkanovski left that night as the first man to dethrone Holloway and become the first new UFC featherweight champion since 2017 after beating Holloway via unanimous decision. However, many fans thought the judging was questionable and discussions began that Holloway was robbed.
The two met in their immediate rematch in July, 2020 at UFC 251. This one provided even more controversy as Volkanovski retained his title via split decision. The fight has gone on to be regarded as one of the closest championship fights in UFC history. Fans have watched it over and over again and arguments can be made for either fighter winning.
Volkanovski recently defended his title against his second challenger in Brian Ortega in September, 2021 at UFC 266 in what many have recently called the best fight of 2021. Meanwhile, Holloway put on one of the greatest UFC performances of all time against Calvin Kattar in January, 2021 and had my pick of fight of the year against Yair Rodriguez in November, 2021.
It was undeniable that Holloway had earned yet another shot at his coveted featherweight title, so now here we are. A trilogy fight to hopefully put some finality and decisiveness into who the true UFC featherweight champion is.
UFC 272 is currently scheduled to take place on March 5, 2022 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
