Aljamain Sterling is finally going to get his wish and compete for UFC gold.
UFC President Dana White revealed to Yahoo Sports on Wednesday that Sterling will challenge Petr Yan for the bantamweight championship in the co-main event of UFC 256 on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The headliner for UFC 256 will see two-division champion, Amanda Nunes, defending the featherweight title against Megan Anderson.
Yan (15-1) captured the vacant 135-pound title left by Henry Cejudo, battering Jose Aldo at UFC 251 in July. The 27-year-old Russian entered the UFC in June and has gone 7-0 with four of those wins via stoppage, including back-to-back TKO victories over Urijah Faber and Aldo, respectively.
Sterling (19-3) entered the UFC in February 2014 as a highly-touted prospect. He's gone 10-3 with six of those wins coming inside the distance. The New York native currently sports a five-fight winning streak after a knockout loss to Marlon Moraes in 2017, including an 88-second submission victory over fellow top contender Cory Sandhagen in his last outing at UFC 250.
However, White had been reluctant for one reason or another to commit to Sterling getting the next title shot. Following Sandhagen's knockout victory against Moraes over the weekend, it appears that Sterling now has a clear path to a title opportunity.