A title fight added to UFC 256. A title fight taken away. Just another day in the world of Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Well, now we know why Dana White was so eager to get Deiveson Figueiredo to defend his title again in 21 days at UFC 256.
The pay-per-view event was originally set to be headlined by bantamweight champion Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling. But now ESPN is reporting that the 135 pound title fight is off the card for ‘undisclosed reasons.’ All that’s being said is that ‘Yan is not injured.’ Hmm.
Yan hasn’t come out on social media to explain the situation … which isn’t surprising since his last tweet came back on November 3rd. But his opponent Aljamain Sterling is a lot more active on Twitter and basically live blogged the situation from rumor to confirmation.
Speaking with my team now about those rumors. Not sure what’s up https://t.co/MK87g68cFr
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) November 22, 2020
Yan is too much of a man to do this. We will know what’s going on soon. https://t.co/8muKrHn7Xg
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) November 22, 2020
YERRRR!!! Everything good with you my guy .@PetrYanUFC?
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) November 22, 2020
Interim?
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) November 22, 2020
Everything happens for a reason. I hope everything is good with you and your family .@PetrYanUFC We will settle our business when you can be 100% focused and ready to give the fans the best show we can.
See you soon.— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) November 22, 2020
Here’s the current UFC 256 lineup which, as should be obvious from this post, is very subject to change.
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno for 125 pound flyweight title
- Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira
- Dwight Grant vs. Li Jingliang
- Ronaldo Souza vs. Marvin Vettori
- Angela Hill vs. Tecia Torres
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Omari Akhmedov vs. opponent TBA
- Serghei Spivac vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Karl Roberson
- Peter Barrett vs. Chase Hooper
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Gavin Tucker
- Andrea Lee vs. Gillian Robertson
- Rafael Fiziev vs. Renato Moicano