On Saturday, April 9th VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena will host UFC 273. The main card is set to feature both the men’s Featherweight and Bantamweight championship fights. The title bouts will feature Alexander Volkanovski defending his Featherweight belt against Chan Sung Jung, and current Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling vs interim belt holder Petr Yan. Title bouts aside, the most anticipated fight of the night will feature second-ranked Welterweight Gilbert Burns and undefeated phenomenon Khamzat Chimaev.
The Australian Alexander Volkanovski is a -800 favorite over Chan Sung Jung, widely known as “the Korean Zombie”. This massive line is hard to dispute, Volk is undefeated at Featherweight and has beaten world-class competition such as Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, and Jose Aldo while on a 20 fight win streak. The 33-year old is in the prime of his MMA career and will be a handful on Saturday night for the Korean Zombie. Style-wise both fighters are very well-rounded, Volkanovski is known for his elite cardio and pressure that drowns his opponents. On the flip side, Jung has a heavy risk-taking striking style that is a fan favorite, but it makes him susceptible to absorbing more damage. The Korean Zombie has been preparing with combat sports legend Henry Cejudo for this fight in hopes of combatting the wrestling of Volkanovski. He will need to show his best performance to date to steal the belt from the dominant Featherweight king on Saturday night.
The Co-main event is a rematch of what many would consider the most controversial title fight in UFC history. March 2021, Petr Yan was disqualified in the fourth round for an intentional illegal knee connecting with the head of Aljamain Sterling. The UFC apex was the host of this event and with no fans in attendance due to COVID-19 restrictions, the arena was awkwardly silent leaving dissatisfying energy. Sterling was forced to be sidelined since the first fight. Sterling underwent surgery to repair damaged nerves in his neck that caused pain and limited his fighting ability for many years. Sterling has won over the top dogs of the division, however, their relentless boxing-based style of Yan poses issues for the American Wrestler. Yan fought once since disqualification, defeating Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision, obtaining the interim Bantamweight belt. Yan is a favorable -480 favorite this Saturday making Aljamain Sterling one of the largest underdogs in the history of MMA while being the current champion.
Before the title unifications occur, Gilbert Burns will take on undefeated Khamzat Chimaev in a welterweight bout with title contention implications. Chimaev will enter the octagon as a substantial favorite against the second-ranked Welterweight in the world, Gilbert Burns. This will mark the 5th time Chimaev has fought in the UFC compared to the veteran experience of Burns who will be making his 18th appearance under the organization. This fight will be the first major test for Chimaev in his dominant career and many look forward to seeing if he will live up to the hype. Expect this fight to not go the distance as both sides’ world-class credentials for combat sports will look to score an impressive finish.
The main card will also feature a Women’s Strawweight bout between Tecia Torres and Mackenzie Dern, along with the main card opening fight, undefeated Mark Madsen vs Vinc Pichel.
A personal prediction for the fight of the night is Yan vs Sterling 2. This Bantamweight championship is full of bad blood and has high-paced action written all over it. Can Sterling prove he is the king when
