Alexander Volkanovski-Max Holloway 3, Aljamain Sterling-Petr Yan 2 Set for UFC 272

A pair of title bouts featuring familiar foes are on tap for UFC 272.

UFC president Dana White informed broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday that the Alexander Volkanovski-Max Holloway trilogy will take place at UFC 272 on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will square off for a second time at the same event. Contracts have not yet been signed for either bout, but both are expected to be finalized soon.

Volkanovski owns a pair of victories over Holloway. The 33-year-old City Kickoxing standout claimed the featherweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Holloway at UFC 245 before defending the belt with a highly-contentious split verdict in their rematch at UFC 251. Most recently, he defended the strap with a decision win over Brian Ortega in a “Fight of the Year” candidate at UFC 266 this past September to run his professional winning streak to 20.

Holloway has earned his spot as the top contender after those back-to-back losses against Volkanovski. He authored Sherdog.com's “Beatdown of the Year” for 2021 with a masterful performance against Calvin Kattar at UFC on ABC 1, and then returned to action for another five-round victory over Yair Rodriguez in the UFC Fight Night 197 headliner this past November.

Sterling captured bantamweight gold in controversial fashion at UFC 259, when an illegal knee from Yan in the fourth round of their title tilt resulted in a disqualification victory for “The Funk Master.” Sterling is currently on a six-bout UFC winning streak that includes triumphs over the likes of Cory Sandhagen, Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera. Sterling was supposed to face Yan in a rematch this past October but the fight was postponed as the Serra-Longo Fight Team member recovered from neck surgery.

Yan, who most felt was winning the fight with Sterling before the untimely foul, claimed the interim belt with a decision win over Cory Sandhagen in his most recent outing at UFC 267. Prior to the Sterling bout, “No Mercy” was on a 10-bout professional winning streak that included a thrashing of Jose Aldo to claim the vacant bantamweight throne at UFC 251.