Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is officially moving up to the featherweight ranks and his first fight there will be against Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 on April 13th in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old Sterling lost his grip on the 135lb title back in August when he was TKO’d by Sean O’Malley early in the 2nd round at UFC 292.
Leading up to that fight Sterling had been on a nine-fight winning streak that included winning the title due to Petr Yan suffering a knee injury, before going on to beat him by split-decision in their eventual rematch, then successfully defending the belt against TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo.
For his first test in his new weight class he’ll be going up against the 35-year-old Kattar, who is currently ranked No.7 in the division.
Despite that, Kattar has actually had a tough time of it of late, suffering three losses in his last four fights, though it has to be stressed that he was going up against top-flight opposition during that run, with his defeats coming against Max Holloway, Josh Emmett and Arnold Allen, while his win was over Giga Chikadze.
Meanwhile, another confirmed fight booking for UFC 300 sees the return of undefeated Contender Series standout Bo Nickal, who has so far registered wins over Jamie Pickett and Valentine Woodburn since joining the UFC in March.
One of the most highly regarded prospects in the sport, the 27-year-old Nickal will now be going up against the 29-year-old Cody Brundage, who not so long ago was on a three-fight losing slump, but has turned things around in the 2nd half of 2023, earning wins over Jacob Malkoun and Zachary Reese.
Sterling vs. Kattar and Nickal vs. Brundage join Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksander Rakic as the 1st three fights to be officially confirmed for the UFC 300 event, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
