Shakiel Mahjouri passed along these quotes from Fightful’s conversations with Urijah Faber and Casey Keneny ahead of Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259.
Urijah Faber: “I would have said that Sterling is going to fight really smart and grapple Yan a ton and be tricky and creative with his striking, which I still think could happen,”Faber began. “But from what I heard from Slava Borshchev, our in-house Russian killer, is that Yan is taking all this time to go train with the Russian wrestling team. I think that could change the game and slightly keep the odds in the champ’s favor.”
Casey Kenney: “Another tough fight, I think Yan gets it done though in the later rounds,”Kenney predicts. “I think he weathers the early grappling storm from Sterling and puts him away with shots or wins the long game.”