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Ahead of UFC 259, Petr Yan joins American Top Team for first title defense preparation
Petr Yan is training stateside to prepare for his first UFC title defense.
The UFC bantamweight champion, Yan (15-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is preparing for his UFC 259 defense vs. Aljamain Sterling at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., his manager Sayat Abdrakhmanov confirmed to MMA Junkie on Saturday.
UFC 259 takes place March 6. A location and venue have not been revealed, but the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN+.
Yan recently arrived in the U.S., and on Friday posted a picture on Instagram of himself standing in front of the giant ATT logo on the gym’s wall.
The decision to spend his camp at ATT stems from a two-week quarantine requirement in Phuket, Thailand, where Yan usually spends camps training at Tiger Muay Thai, Abdrakhmanov explained. Rather than only having six weeks to train in Thailand after two weeks of quarantining, Yan chose to have eight weeks in the U.S.
When looking for a new location, Yan took the recommendation of a friend, teammate and fellow UFC fighter Movsar Evloev, who has spent time training at the South Florida gym.
Though he’ll be training in a new location amongst new partners for his UFC 259 camp, Yan’s journey was not unaccompanied. Tiger Muay Thai boxing coach John Hutchinson has joined Yan at ATT.
Yan has put together a brilliant unbeaten run in the UFC thus far, vanquishing every foe who has stood before him. After Henry Cejudo vacated the 135-pound title earlier this year, Yan claimed the vacant belt against Jose Aldo at UFC 251 last July.
He was supposed to make his first title defense at UFC 256 in December but was forced to withdraw due to personal issues.
The latest UFC 259 fight card includes:
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya – for light heavyweight title
- Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson – for women’s featherweight title
- Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling – for bantamweight title
- Aleksandar Rakic vs. Thiago Santos
- Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney
- Drew Dober vs. Islam Makhachev
- Askar Askarov vs. Joseph Benavidez
- Sean Brady vs. Jake Matthews
- Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones
- Aalon Cruz vs. Uros Medic
- Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinosa
- Amanda Lemos vs. Livinha Souza
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