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UFC News: José Aldo vs Petr Yan in the works for Vacant Bantamweight Championship

By Tyriece Simon

 

The UFC has decided on who will challenge for the bantamweight championship. Former UFC and WEC featherweight champion José Aldo will face Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight championship. UFC President Dana White announced the fight in an interview with ESPN’s Phil Murphy yesterday.

"My people are probably going to kill me for this one…"@danawhite spilled the beans on trying to put together @PetrYanUFC vs. @josealdojunior for the vacant UFC bantamweight title 😏 (via @SportsCenter)

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)

In the interview, White said, “(Henry) Cejudo has retired, so we’re talking right now about Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant title.”

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A post shared by José Aldo Junior (@josealdojunioroficial) on Apr 29, 2020 at 8:17am PDT

Aldo is on a two-fight losing streak. He is coming off a split decision loss against Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 on December 14, 2019. White thought Aldo won the fight and looked good in his bantamweight debut. Aldo was supposed to fight former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo in a title fight on May 9. However, Aldo was unable to compete due to visa issues.

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?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">#Repost @archangl_michael with @make_repost ・・・Отличное завершение рабочего года 🙏🏻💪🏻Спасибо всем кто рядом ! Пётр Ян @petr_yan : Я получил шесть побед подряд за полтора года, и я тот, кто заслуживает шанс на титул ⠀ «Я очень рад, что моя карьера в UFC продвигается так быстро. Я очень много работаю для этого, это не легко, у меня было много боев в этом году, и я рад, что смог закончить этот год большой победой. Я получил шесть побед подряд за полтора года, и я тот, кто заслуживает шанс на титул» ⠀ Ph @ufc #archangel_michael #ПетрЯн #ufc #rccmma #rcc_sport #UFC245 #petryan #rcc_academy #rcc_sport #petryan #ufc #чозажелтый #строимдорогу #путьвоина #история #сделатьневозможное #россия #неотступатьинесдаваться #сибирь #омск #екатеринбург #ufc #tigermuaythai #дорога #chicago #teampetryan #бокс #мечта

A post shared by Петр "No Mercy" Ян (@petr_yan) on Dec 15, 2019 at 1:57pm PST

Yan has been in the conversation as someone who deserves to challenge for the bantamweight championship. Yan is on an impressive nine-fight win streak. His last win was a knockout against UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber at UFC 245. He took issue publicly when Cejudo called for a fight against Aldo and Dominick Cruz instead of him. In a past interview with MMAFighting, Yan said “You all can see that ‘Triple Clown’ [Cejudo] is trying to avoid the fight with me. He’s even afraid to mention my name. All I see is his mental weakness now. Let’s do it if you consider yourself a champion – try to prove that I’m wrong.” With the bantamweight championship vacated, Yan will finally have his chance.

Both Yan and Aldo are currently training. The fight is not yet official and still being planned. White mentioned in the ESPN interview that the fight has yet to have a date or location.