Petr Yan vs. Urijah Faber, Marlon Moraes vs. Jose Aldo Targeted for UFC 245

The lineup for UFC 245 continues to grow more impressive by the day.

A pair of intriguing bantamweight bouts are in the works for the Dec. 14 event, as Petr Yan will square off with Urijah Faber, while Marlon Moraes will welcome Jose Aldo to the division. Yan vs. Faber was first reported by ESPN, while MMAjunkie.com brought word of Moraes vs. Aldo. The UFC has not formally announced either bout.

UFC 245 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and features a trio of title fights: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington at welterweight; Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski at featherweight and Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie at women’s bantamweight. The evening’s main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+ and ESPN2.

Yan has established himself as one of the top talents in the bantamweight division by winning his first five Octagon appearances. The 26-year-old Russian’s 2019 campaign has thus far included decision triumphs over John Dodson and Jimmie Rivera.

Faber, meanwhile, ended a two-and-a-half year retirement at UFC Fight Night 155, where he scored a 46-second technical knockout victory over Ricky Simon in his hometown of Sacramento, Calif., on July 13. “The California Kid” targeted a matchup with bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo after the victory, and a win of Yan could bring him closer to that goal.

A former World Series of Fighting champion, Moraes came up short in his bid to claim bantamweight gold in the Las Vegas-based promotion, as he suffered a third-round TKO defeat to Cejudo at UFC 238. Moraes’ Octagon tenure includes finishes of Raphael Assuncao, Jimmie Rivera and Aljamain Sterling.

Regarded by many as the greatest featherweight of all-time, Aldo will be making his featherweight debut after 14 bouts in his previous weight class. The Nova Uniao standout saw a modest two-bout winning streak snapped in a decision loss to Volkanovski in his most recent outing at UFC 237.