Jose Aldo to face Petr Yan for vacant bantamweight title
Russian, streaking star Petr Yan will face former featherweight champ Jose Aldo for the UFC bantamweight title – Which now stands vacant.
The title was vacated by Henry Cejudo, who elected to retire from MMA after his first title defence, finishing Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. It was a surprising move, as Cejudo had grown in popularity and sat atop the bantamweight throne.
With the bantamweight division more crowded and talent stacked than ever, many have wondered about who will fight for the vacant title. Those people no longer need to speculate.
Speaking to ESPN, UFC president Dana White revealed that Aldo and Yan will face off for the bantamweight championship. Right now there is no date or venue set, but the bout is expected to take place on Fight Island.
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"My people are probably going to kill me for this one…"@danawhite spilled the beans on trying to put together @PetrYanUFC vs. @josealdojunior for the vacant UFC bantamweight title ? (via @SportsCenter) pic.twitter.com/AIcd3lLIlD
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 27, 2020
Aldo is a respected veteran of the sport who carried the featherweight division on his shoulders for many years. However since losing the title to Max Holloway Aldo has not seen the same return to form he had hoped for. He currently sits on a two fight losing streak, with decision losses to Alexander Volkanovski and most recently Marlon Moraes. The loss to Moraes came via a close, controversial split decision, though the result still stands.
Yan is hailed as one of, if not the most exciting and promising prospect to emerge out of Russia. He holds a nine fight winning streak, six in the UFC, including wins over Jimmie Rivera and Urijah Faber.
