The bantamweight championship rematch between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling will have to be postponed. Brett Okamoto of ESPN, broke the news earlier this evening in an interview with current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. 

Sterling (20-3), won the championship following their first matchup on March 6, after Yan was disqualified for landing an illegal knee that left Sterling unable to continue. Though many thought this fight would be ran back quickly,  Sterling has announced he will undergo surgery on his C6-C7 vertebrae for a herniated disk. 

When asked when he would return, Sterling indicated it would be before the end of the year. 

He described the timeline to Okamoto, “They told me I will heal in three months, and can start doing cardio to get myself ready.”

At this point the UFC has had no comment on the news that Sterling will be out. However, due to the nature of Sterling’s victory it will be interesting to see where the bantamweight division goes from here. Will the former champion Yan be forced to wait for his chance at the title until Sterling is healthy? Or, will the UFC decide on an interim title bout in the meantime? 

When the idea of a possible interim title fight was brought up, Sterling disregarded the idea, telling Okamoto, “I can’t see a reason for an interim title fight when Yan won the belt in July [2020], was scheduled to fight me in December, and then had to push it to March.”