Urijah Faber is leaning towards Petr Yan as the days count down to the bantamweight champ's title fight against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259.
Faber, who has not competed since a third-round KO loss to Yan in December 2019, caught up with Fightful to break down the impending UFC bantamweight title fight. While "The California Kid" was originally favoring Sterling, recent information has swung his vote.
"I would have said that Sterling is going to fight really smart and grapple Yan a ton and be tricky and creative with his striking, which I still think could happen," Faber began. "But from what I heard from Slava Borshchev, our in-house Russian killer, is that Yan is taking all this time to go train with the Russian wrestling team. I think that could change the game and slightly keep the odds in the champ's favor."
Hot bantamweight prospect Casey Kenney, who fights Faber's famed rival Dominick Cruz at UFC 259, also shared his pick.
"Another tough fight, I think Yan gets it done though in the later rounds," Kenney predicted. "I think he weathers the early grappling storm from Sterling and puts him away with shots or wins the long game."
UFC 259 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, March 6. The pay-per-view card is headlined by a champion vs. champion super-fight between UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Israel Adesanya. The card also boasts two other title fights: Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling for the UFC men's bantamweight title, and Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson for the women's featherweight strap. Keep up with Fightful for all your event-related coverage.
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