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          Everything you need to know about UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung

          Alexander Volkanovski will make his third defense of the featherweight title at UFC 273. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
          • ESPN
          Apr 8, 2022, 03:31 PM

          UFC 273 is a fight card that keeps on giving.

          The April 9 pay-per-view event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, will be headlined by a men's featherweight title fight between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung. For Jung, whom the UFC bills by his nickname, "The Korean Zombie," this is his second go at the 145-pound belt -- nearly nine years after the first one. He challenged then-champion Jose Aldo back in the summer of 2013 and lost by TKO after an injury.

          Saturday's co-main event is also a title bout, in which Aljamain Sterling defends against former belt holder Petr Yan. It is a rematch of a 2021 fight that ended with the title changing hands via disqualification.

          Beyond the two championship bouts, there's also the biggest fight so far for much-hyped Khamzat Chimaev. After astounding fans with his lopsided victories, Chimaev finally faces a top-10 contender in Gilbert Burns, who just last year challenged for the welterweight title.

          What are the storylines behind these fights? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it, and a collection of all of the UFC 273 essentials.

          UFC 273 fight card

          ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
          Men's featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Chan Sung Jung
          Men's bantamweight championship: Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Petr Yan (ic)
          Welterweight: Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
          Strawweight: Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
          Lightweight: Mark O. Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
          ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
          Welterweight: Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
          Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd
          Women's bantamweight: Aspen Ladd vs. Raquel Pennington
          Welterweight: Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott
          ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET
          Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik vs. Jared Vanderaa
          Strawweight: Piera Rodriguez vs. Kay Hansen
          Men's bantamweight: Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos

          (c) = defending champion | (ic) = interim champ

          How to watch the fights

          Watch the PPV and all other fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.

          Watch the prelims on ESPN and ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+. Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV schedule

          Don't have ESPN? Get instant access.

          Purchased the fight on your phone and want to stream on your TV? Find out how here.

          There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.

          Ranking the fights at UFC 273: There's much more than UFC gold at stake

          play
          1:08
          Sterling leaves belt in Octagon after victory due to illegal knee from Yan

          After Petr Yan lands an illegal knee to the head of Aljamain Sterling, the fight is called off and Yan is disqualified, making Sterling the new bantamweight champion.

          A championship prizefight makes a Saturday night feel special. And when there are two tussles for titles on the fight card, that doubles the big-event exhilaration. UFC 273 offers all that and more. The 13-fight event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, is packed with storylines and intrigue.

          There's the first top-10 test for a fast-rising star whose every performance thus far has been astoundingly dominant. Two former title challengers are on the card, not even counting the two bouts at the top of the bill. A couple of fights will feature prospects from ESPN's ranking of the top 25 fighters under age 25. There also will be two multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champions and an Olympic medalist in wrestling who is undefeated in MMA.

          Those are a lot of career accomplishments packed into one night. What are the names attached to them? You'll find them in our ranking of Saturday's fights, listed by entertainment value and degree to which it would be unwise to step away for refreshments.

          Read the story.

          The incredible numbers of Khamzat Chimaev's star-making start in the UFC

          play
          0:28
          Chimaev has words for Dana White while carrying Jingliang

          During the first round, Khamzat Chimaev picks up Li Jingliang off the mat, carries him toward the fence and chats it up with Dana White.

          Khamzat Chimaev faces Gilbert Burns on at UFC 273 in the biggest test of his career. Can Chimaev continue the historic run that has highlighted the start of his UFC career?

          Chimaev last fought in October at UFC 267, after an absence of more than a year, and did not miss a beat. He scored a first-round submission of Li Jingliang to become 4-0 in the UFC, 10-0 overall in his MMA career. He has finished every opponent, seven of them in the first round. He has never seen a Round 3.

          But those are not the only numbers that have drawn attention to the 27-year-old Chechnya-born Swede.

          For a rundown of those numbers ...

          Read the story.

          It's almost Khamzat Chimaev time

          play
          1:12
          Volkanovski, Ortega put on Fight of the Year candidate at UFC 266

          Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega give the Vegas crowd its money's worth and more with an epic clash at UFC 266.

          We're not disrespecting Gilbert Burns here. We're just merely pointing out that the intrigue around his fight against Chimaev on April 9 is because of Chimaev. The sport has been waiting for this. We've talked about whether Chimaev is the real deal. We've seen what he can do in the Octagon. We've heard stories of what he can do in the gym. We want to see him in a true test, which Burns, who challenged for the UFC welterweight belt just a year ago, clearly represents.

          Read the story.

          Volkanovski is coming off 2021's fight of the year

          play
          1:51
          Korean Zombie wants fight with Volkanovski

          Chan Sung Jung, also known as "Korean Zombie," responds to comments by UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and expresses desire for a fight.

          Championship MMA has reached such a high level that it's rare you're going to see a bad title fight. They're all fantastic to an extent, because they are all examples of the very best the sport has to offer. Even so, September's UFC featherweight title bout between Volkanovski and Brian Ortega truly had everything you could ever want to see in a martial arts contest.

          First and foremost: skill. The sport truly (and finally) began to recognize the depth of Volkanovski's skill in this fight. He is a world-class pound-for-pound talent, and it showed in this one.

          To learn about what else Volkanovski and Ortega showed that night ...

          Read the story.

          What they're saying

          Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung

          Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan

          Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev

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