Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
UFC 251 is set to go down this Saturday night (July 11, 2020) live from “Fight Island” on Yas Isand, Abu Dhabi, airing exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV). The event will feature a trilogy of title fights as the new (and improved) main event will see Kamaru Usman defend his Welterweight strap against Jorge Masvidal, while Alexander Volkanovski faces Max Holloway in a Featherweight championship rematch.
The first title fight up, however, is a Bantamweight bout for the vacant strap between former 145-pound champion, Jose Aldo, taking on striking sensation, Petr Yan.
Yan burst onto the UFC scene in 2018 and hit the ground running to collect five straight wins in the span of one year. His sixth victory, though, came against one of the most seasoned veterans of the fight game, Urijah Faber. The two men squared off at UFC 245 in December of 2019. Through the first two rounds, Petr pretty much dictated the pace of the fight, with Faber spending them majority of the time on his heels, wile Yan was looking for a good opening.
Halfway through round two, Yan tagged Faber with a perfectly-placed straight two-strike combo that dropped the former WEC champion. To his credit, a bloodied up Faber got back up. A few moments later, Yan clipped “The California Kid” with a sneaky elbow shot in the clinch, dropping him once again. By the time round two ended, Faber’s face was beaten to a pulp
Early in round three, Petr blasted Faber’s face with a well-timed knee, sending him crashing to the canvas one final time before the referee stepped in to put an end to the fight, giving Yan his ninth straight win, 14 of 15 overall. Now, “No Mercy” will look to became UFC’s newest 135-pound kingpin by taking out another legend of the fight game.
To see the latest UFC 251: “Usman vs Masvidal” fight card click here.