Time has done nothing to temper the animosity between them.

Aljamain Sterling will defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight crown against interim titleholder Petr Yan when their unification-bout rematch serves as the UFC 273 co-feature on Saturday at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Their first encounter ended in controversy when Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee at UFC 259 more than a year ago. Sterling has not fought since. Yan, meanwhile, captured the interim belt with a five-round unanimous decision over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 on Oct. 30.

As Sterling and Yan approach their long-awaited sequel, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

32: Years of age for Sterling, who was born on July 31, 1989 in Uniondale, New York.

8: Sterling victories by submission, accounting for 40% of his career total (20). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes, one arm-triangle choke, one guillotine choke and one kneebar. Sterling owns two other wins by knockout or technical knockout, nine more by decision and another by disqualification.

47: Rounds completed by Sterling as a professional mixed martial artist. The Serra-Longo Fight Team rep has gone the distance on 11 different occasions and carries a 9-2 record in those bouts.

11: Submission attempts made by Sterling as a UFC bantamweight, placing him fourth on the promotion’s all-time list at 135 pounds. Only Marlon Vera (15), Rani Yahya (14), Alex Caceres (12) and T.J. Dillashaw (12) have been credited with more.

.713: Cumulative winning percentage between the three men—Marlon Moraes, Raphael Assuncao and Bryan Caraway—who have defeated Sterling. They boast a combined record of 72-28-1.



29: Years of age for Yan, who was born in Dudinka, Russia, on Feb. 11, 1993.

7: Yan wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 44% of his career total (16). His list of UFC victims: Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber, Douglas Silva de Andrade and Teruto Ishihara. Yan holds one other win by submission and eight more by decision.

194: Significant strikes landed by Yan in his fifth-round technical knockout of Aldo at UFC 251 on July 11, 2020. It set a personal benchmark for the Russian that still stands.

5: Countries in which Yan has plied his MMA trade. He has gone 9-1 in his native Russia, 3-1 in the United States, 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, 1-0 in Singapore and 1-0 in the Czech Republic.

47: Seconds needed for Yan to submit Haron Orzumiev with a guillotine choke at an Absolute Championship Berkut event on May 30, 2015. Having occurred nearly seven years ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 18-fight career.

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