On Saturday night, time will stop and then speed up like a mad hatter’s clock. The Ultimate Fighting Championship showcases its global reach as fighters worldwide compete in Jacksonville, Florida, with a stacked fight card. 

The country of Australia yet again flexes their fighting pride as they send out another one of their sons in Alexander Volkanovski, king of the Featherweight division. In the main event, he will defend his belt against the most skilled Korean to touch the mat, Chang Sung Jung, better known as “The Korean Zombie.” Before that spectacle begins, world-class Bantamweights collide as Siberian Interim Champion Petr Yan hopes to reclaim the title—that he feels he should have never lost— in a matchup against Long Island’s own, Aljamain Sterling, the official Bantamweight Champion. Sterling had won the first match between the two 13 months ago due to Yan kneeing Sterling illegally. The shot to the head was so brutal that Sterling could not continue the fight and would later have surgery on his neck. He is going into Saturday night, intending to put his boogeyman to rest. This cars also features the hype train, Khamzat Chimaev. The National Swedish freestyle wrestling champion is an “absolute menace.” He fights in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions. He is happy to comply with all challenges put his way. He has ten pro fights, with ten finishes on his resume. He finds himself in a high-stakes bout with the Brazilian, multiple-time Jiu Jitsu gold medalist and former UFC title challenger Gilbert “El Durinho” Burns. It is the immovable object against the unstoppable force in more straightforward ways. 

Burns and Chimaev begin with the elite part of the main card fighting in the Welterweight division. This matchup could go either way. Chimaev is the heavy favorite, and it is hard to bet against him after his last fight with Li Jingliang, where he shot down on a double leg takedown scooping up Jingliang in only in the first few seconds of the war. He then looked for the Director of Operations and President of the UFC, Dana White. Chimaev then began talking to White as he threw Jingliang on the mat and wrestled with him. Chimaev managed to take them back and secure a rear-naked choke three minutes later. After the fight, he told Daniel Cormier that White was on his phone as Chimaev’s bout began. He then said, “Don’t skip my fights, brother.” 

Due to his wrestling pedigree, Chimaev can be compared to “The GOAT of the UFC,” Khabib Nurmagomedov. The domination and the pressure he puts on his opponents are lethal. Current UFC fighters that have trained with Chimaev say we as fans have seen nothing yet. Fighters explain that Chimaev’s striking is also a scary sight, making us all wonder what his weaknesses are. However, his opponent is no slouch. 

Gilbert Burns is an assassin on the ground with ferocious knockout power. He was a former lightweight but did not seem to have much success in the UFC until he moved up in weight classes putting him in the Welterweight division. Since then, he has torn up the division but could not put away his long-time training partner turned foe Kamaru Usman, arguably the best Welterweight the sport has ever seen. Burns knocked down Usman in the first round of their fight, but the champion was able to recover, and in the third round, Usman finished Burns by knockout. Burns is confident that he will slow down the hype train of Chimaev and prove that he is still on the top of the mountain when it comes to who is next in line for challenging for the Welterweight throne. This fight will be a glorious presentation of violence combined with knowledge within a three-round fight period. There is no clear-cut answer on who could win, making this fight even more marvelous. 

Following that barnburner commences Aljamain Sterling’s daunting task to free the voices in his head that Petr Yan controls. 13 months ago, the two Bantamweights collided in a five-round fight where Sterling was the number one challenger and Yan was the champion. The battle seemed to be going back and forth, but Yan had more edge on Sterling. By the fourth round, Yan had appeared to burn Sterling’s gas tank and looked well in reach of winning the fight. Sterling went in for a takedown which Yan blocked. Sterling still had both knees on the mat during the attempted takedown; Yan then cracked Sterling in the side of his skull with a knee. Sterling tried to get up for about two minutes but showed signs of a severe concussion and could not continue disqualifying Yan, thus forfeiting his title to Sterling. Sterling sobbed as he got the belt strapped around his waist because it was not the way he wanted to win. Yan believes that Sterling was being dramatic about the knee even after the neck surgery Sterling needed after suffering the blow. 

Other fighters and influencers around the sport also believe Sterling was being dramatic, especially after agreeing to fight Yan a few months after the first fight only to pull out of the fight after three weeks of fight camp to get surgery. Yan then fought the #1 contender at the time, Cory Sandhagen, months later to claim the Interim belt. 

Not many people are allowed to have an opinion on UFC fighters and their toughness. Yan is an exception; the Siberian native is used to toughening things out. His parents would fall into a deep depression, neglecting Yan as a child. With that neglect, Yan stopped doing child-like activities and started putting his energy into fighting. Starting in middle school, Yan would pick fights with anybody and everybody. Some days he would fight every single period of the day. At nineteen, he worked at a nightclub as a security guard. In multiple interviews, he talks about how on certain nights, the club would host a fight night where people could earn extra money by fighting and winning. Yan would welcome these fights as much as possible because it was a chance for him to make extra money. 

Nevertheless, Yan is an intelligent fighter with immense power for his size. Yan’s striking is world-class, with a hungry and fearless demeanor that he believes will lead him to victory on Saturday. Aljamain is the better wrestler but may be slower, especially when the opening bell rings. His job on Saturday will be to tire Yan out with wrestling and dirty boxing along with his silk ground game that I have personally perfected at one time.

Matt Serra is Aljamain Sterling’s current head Jiu-Jitsu coach. Matt Serra is also friends with Richie Korfhage, my coach/professor. We would have combined practices sometimes, and before I knew it, I saw a guy come in one day looking mean, and Serra was talking to Richie, explaining that Aljamain was a Cortland wrestler who had thought about trying his luck in MMA. He was swift but very raw. One time he could not lock up a triangle submission correctly and seemed to be struggling with that choke specifically throughout the practice. Catarina Valentine, one of my mentors in the sport, taught me how to lock on a triangle choke a certain way. It was easier for me to learn, and when the choke locked, it was tight! I taught Aljamain that specific triangle lock about six years ago. In tapes today, he still locks up his triangles like he did the first time on that Saturday morning. If Aljamain Sterling can weather Yan’s storm of strikes with takedowns and constantly grinds at Yan, he will be able to take his back and latch on for a lethal submission. 

These festivities bring us to the main event, a five-round war in the featherweight division. Alexander Volkanovski, the former rugby star, has had only one professional loss on his record, which came in the Welterweight division in 2015. Since then, he has dropped weight and demolished his current weight division. He has been in wars trying to retain the title and later, defend his championship against Max Holloway. In two fights in which the scorecards could have gone either way on either night, the cards were in Volkanovski’s favor. His last fight was against Brian Ortega. In the later rounds of the fight, Volkanovski seemed to be taking it to Ortega, outclassing him in striking, when Volkanovski went for a leg kick. At the same time, Ortega grabbed it and countered with a right cross, sitting Volkanovski down. Ortega then took mount and went for a guillotine; this is one of Ortega’s favorite moves making the choke unbelievably tight for Volkanovski. Most UFC fighters would have gone to sleep with how tight the choke seemed. Everyone in the arena and watching at home was screaming on the edge of their seats to see if a new featherweight champion would be crowned. As the whole arena of fans continued to yell and cheer for Ortega, Volkanovski’s head popped up, still fighting the choke. He told UFC reporters, “The lights were getting dim, and I told myself this can’t happen. This belt needs to come home with me.” He then scrambled and was able to tuck his chin to cover his Adam’s apple to prevent the threat of the choke. 

Volkanovski dealt with the pressure uncomfortably because he dealt with those things at home while training. About twice a week, Volkanovski will get on his boat in Australia and take it out into the ocean, where he begins snorkeling while looking for sharks to swim with. Once he finds a group, he swims with them as much as possible without losing track of his boat. This puts him in the headspace of being comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Volkanovski proves that when you can be comfortable in awkward positions, your mind becomes stronger with every step you take. 

Sharing the octagon with Volkanovski for the main event is a man leading his country in the practice of mixed martial arts. Chan Sung Jung, better known as “The Zombie.” He came from a hand fighting stylistic background, which grants him with his ridiculous hand speed. Some even go as far as to compare the characteristic with the Great Bruce Lee. “The Korean Zombie,” decided to ask for help from a man that walked away from the sport as a Champion in two weight divisions. That man is no other than Henry “Triple C” Cejudo, an Olympic wrestler who adapted to the sport of MMA in the flyweight and bantamweight divisions. He walked away from the sport a year later in the hopes of starting a family. Three years later, his coaching team and himself are helping UFC fighters that are challenging for the title. It seems if a challenger asks Cejudo for help to try and win the championship, Cejudo welcomes them with open arms. He becomes the head coach and repeatedly watches the opponent’s fight tapes so his fighters can get the edge. So far, he is 1-1 with helping fighters. Zhang Weili was unsuccessful in her rematch against Rose Namajunas despite Cejudo being in her corner. However, he was able to help out Deiveson Figueiredo against Brandon Moreno in their rematch. Cejudo seems to have something personal with Volkanovski after his last title defense against Ortega, claiming he could easily beat Volkanovski within two rounds. Still, Volkanovski declined Cejudo’s offer saying that he was not interested in giving Cejudo the recognition of a title fight after a three-year layoff. Cejudo now trains the fighter he believes can be the answer to the current featherweight king. 

On Saturday night, these superstars ranging from across the planet will test their will against each other. UFC 273 will prove to be one for the record books as so many of these fights mean so much to their division. In each of these fights, one individual will feel a wave of thrill and gratitude while the other lives in sorrow and agony until it is time to prove themselves once again.