Petr Yan is heavily favored against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie on Saturday, April 9 in Jacksonville, Florida. This event is one of four fights on the main pay-per-view card. Sterling is 20-3 in his career, while Yan is 16-2 in his career. There are a total of 13 fights with four on Pay-Per-View, four on ESPN/ESPN+ and five on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass at UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie. Let’s look at the bout between Sterling and Yan and UFC predictions.
UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, April 9 with 13 fights, with four on Pay-Per-View, four on ESPN/ESPN+ and five on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. The Korean Zombie Betting
Aljamain Sterling (20-3, 12-3 UFC)
Sterling came into the UFC with a record of 8-0 and he has 12 wins and three losses in the UFC. In his last six fights, he has six wins and no losses. He defeated Brett Johns by unanimous decision, Cody Stamann by suloev stretch submission, Jimmie Rivera by unanimous decision, Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision, Cory Sandhagen by rear-naked choke submission, and Petr Yan by disqualification. Sterling’s last loss in his career was against Marlon Moraes by KO in December of 2017. Sterling has been a pro since 2011 and he has two wins by TKO/KO and eight by submission. He has four first round finishes.
Sterling said this to tmz.com about his upcoming fight against Yan, I am a certified weapon right now, and ready for battle, and I can't wait to go out there and unleash these tools, and put a little beat down on this guy that he's been deserving for well over a year at this point, and move on to the victim. Those chains come free April 9 and I get an opportunity to finally put my hands on this guy, and it's going to be so rewarding to see the shock in people's eyes when I'm out there and I finally get to put my hands on him and see who is really who. He's going to feel a pressure like he's never felt before, and this time when I take him down, he isn’t getting up.”
Petr Yan (16-2, 8-1 UFC)
Yan came into the UFC with a record of 8-1 and he has eight wins and one loss in the UFC. In his last six fights, he has five wins and one loss. He defeated John Dodson by unanimous decision, Jimmie Rivera by unanimous decision, Urijah Faber by KO, José Aldo by TKO, and Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision; while losing to Aljamain Sterling by disqualification. Yan has been a pro since 2014 and he has seven wins by TKO/KO and one by submission. He has three first round finishes.
Yan said this to mmafighting.com about his upcoming fight against Sterling, “Just imagine, he’s tired of thinking about me, and I didn’t even think about him at all. He had this long layoff, I had a different opponent. I fought, and now he’s my next target that I’m going to beat up. After the fight Saturday night, everybody is going to forget about him. That clown will be forgotten. I think he [won’t] be able to do it; I think he wouldn’t be able to take me down. The stuff he said, it’s just going to stay in his head, it’s going to stay his dream. He’s a clown. Everything he has to do is just talk, and after the fight, if he comes to your show, all that’s going to be left is for him to talk.”
Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Sterling 4.84 / Yan 5.98
Striking Accuracy: Sterling 49% / Yan 52%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Sterling 2.20 / Yan 4.14
Defense: Sterling 63% / Yan 62%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Sterling 1.77 / Yan 1.75
Takedown Accuracy: Sterling 24% / Yan 61%
Takedowns defended: Sterling 41% / Yan 89%
Submission average: Sterling 0.9 / Yan 0.2
UFC Picks
I am a little surprised at the price on this one, as I don’t know that Yan should be listed as more than a 5-1 favorite in this fight. Sterling only has three losses in his career and while it appears Yan is the better fighter; he is definitely not that much better. If you want a play simply based on value then Sterling is worth a small flyer. The rounds are listed at 4.5 and while these two are talking about pounding on each other, the reality is that neither of them is known for finishing fights. I think the most likely scenario is that this fight goes to a decision, so I will take the rounds to go over the total.
VIDEO DATE FIGHTERS MONEY LINE 04/9 Chan Sung Jung +515 Alexander Volkanovski -830 04/9 Aljamain Sterling +368 Petr Yan -530 04/9 Gilbert Burns +392 Khamzat Chimaev -575 04/9 Tecia Torres -115 Mackenzie Dern -115 04/9 Darian Weeks +265 Ian Garry -357 04/9 Marcin Tybura +124 Jairzinho Rozenstruik -155 04/9 Mickey Gall +158 Mike Malott -200 04/9 Daniel Santos +158 Julio Arce -200 04/9 Vinc Pichel -140 Mark Madsen +110 04/9 Kay Hansen -110 Piera Rodriguez -120 04/9 Aspen Ladd +146 Raquel Pennington -185 04/9 Josh Fremd +168 Anthony Hernandez -215 04/9 Jared Vanderaa -120 Aleksei Oleinik -110
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