There is good news and bad news when it comes to the UFC 256 pay-per-view taking place on December 12.
The bad news is that the bantamweight title fight headliner between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling will no longer be taking place as per ESPN. Yan is not injured but will not be able to compete with no date for rescheduling the fight set as of yet.
The Siberian-Russian became bantamweight champion in July when he defeated Jose Aldo via fifth-round TKO to win the vacant title. He was set for his first title defense against Sterling but that will now have to wait.
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
The good news, however, is that another title fight has been added in the form of a flyweight championship bout between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.
UFC 256 Gets Another Change
Figueiredo and Moreno only competed last night at UFC 255 but both required just one round to come out on top while doing so relatively unscathed. Figueiredo defended his flyweight title after a first-round submission win over Alex Perez while Moreno TKO’d Brandon Royval to all but ensure he gets the next title shot.
That next shot will take place 21 days after UFC 255 as ESPN reported it would be added to the UFC 256 pay-per-view event and will likely serve as the new headliner. It is notably the quickest turnaround for a UFC champion or challenger in UFC history.
It is also the latest change to UFC 256 which was originally set to be headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson. Despite all the changes, the event is also beefed up with the recent addition of a pivotal lightweight encounter between Tony Ferguson and Charles Oliveira which should serve as the co-headliner.
Less than two hours after his first flyweight title defense, Deiveson Figueiredo already verbally agreed to face top contender Brandon Moreno next month at UFC 256, multiple sources told @arielhelwani.
Moreno has verbally agreed to the fight as well, sources said. pic.twitter.com/xINyNc3ZuE
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 22, 2020
