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Get up to date on the vacant bantamweight title fight at UFC 251 between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
The first of three title fights at UFC 251 features a vacant bantamweight title fight between top contender Petr Yan (14-1 UFC, 6-0 UFC) and former longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo (28-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC). UFC 251 is the first of four events to take place on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi this Saturday, July 11th. The main card will begin with a fight time of 11:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. PT, with the ESPN prelims starting at 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET on Fight Pass and ESPN+.
How do these two stack up?
Yan: 27 years old | 5’7.5” | 67” reach
Aldo: 33 years old | 5’7” | 70” reach
How did these two get here?
Yan: W – Urijah Faber (KO) W – Jimmie Rivera (DEC) W – John Dodson (DEC)
Aldo: L – Marlon Moraes (DEC) L – Alex Volkanovski (DEC) W – Renato Moicano (TKO)
What have these two done recently?
Since debuting for the UFC back in 2018, Petr Yan has continued to improve as his competition has gotten tougher. The Russian’s last three fights have been wins against current or former top contenders. Winning decisions against Jimmie Rivera and John Dodson, Yan topped off a perfect 2019 by knocking out Urijah Faber with a head kick in December. “No Mercy” has amassed a 6-0 record so far in the UFC.
Jose Aldo joins only a handful of fighters such as Frankie Edgar and Holly Holm to fight for a title on the back of consecutive losses. The former longtime featherweight champion made the drop down to bantamweight after his loss to Alexander Volkanovski last May. In his 135-pound debut, Aldo lost a close split decision to Marlon Moraes. The Brazilian is without a win since February 2019.
Why should you care?
Aldo is by all means still a top-level fighter and shouldn’t be written off against Yan at all.