UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski vs ‘Korean Zombie’ and…

UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski vs ‘Korean Zombie’ and Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling title fights confirmed

Two title fights have been made official for UFC 273, with the men’s featherweight and bantamweight belts set to be contested on 9 April.

In the main event in Jacksonville, Florida, Alexander Volkanovski will defend his featherweight title against the ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung, who is serving as a replacement for Max Holloway.

Australian Volkanovski outpointed Holloway in late 2019 to win the title, before retaining it against the Hawaiian with a controversial decision victory in summer 2020. The rivals were set for a trilogy bout at UFC 272, but Holloway sustained an injury that forced his withdrawal from the bout, which was then moved to UFC 273 with Jung stepping in.

Ironically Holloway has recovered from his injury in time to offer his services as a back-up fighter for the main event, leading Volkanovski to question the legitimacy of his old foe’s health concerns.

“@BlessedMMA wants to be the backup fighter for the fight he was originally scheduled to fight. So in other words… he was never injured,” the champion wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the co-main event of UFC 273 will see Aljamain Sterling defend his bantamweight belt against former champion Petr Yan, who enters the contest as interim title holder.

Yan dropped the undisputed gold to Sterling last spring when he was disqualified for landing an illegal knee on the Jamaican-American, having largely dominated the fight until that moment.

Sterling has not fought since, instead rehabilitating after an injury, while Yan won the interim title in a fight of the year contender against Cory Sandhagen in October.

Full card