Aljamain Sterling is the only UFC champion to earn the belt through disqualification. His long-running feud with Petr Yan, far from ending when the pair fought for the bantamweight belt at UFC 259, only intensified when Yan landed an illegal knee on Sterling, ending the fight prematurely and costing Yan his title.
While health issues have prevented Sterling from fighting again since, his first title defense will be a rematch against Yan, and the “Funk Master” promised to dominate on Twitter in defiance of all his armchair critics.
Sterling Promises Domination in Yan Rematch
“It’s fascinating how terrified humans are to try to excel in life. Your fears are NOT mine. Your thoughts and shit opinions, also are NOT mine.
I will win and I will dominate. Half you thumb pushers will never relate to confidence in the work you put in. Enjoy the show.” On The MMA Hour, Sterling elaborated on the frustration he felt following the controversial victory.
“That was the most frustrating part of this entire thing, and just hearing all the talking and people trying to blame me as if I was the reason why this happened as if Yan didn’t pull out of the first fight that we had.
Literally, [he] pulled out of the fight for personal reasons, whatever that means, I have no idea.
But I’m not ready because of a surgery that I wasn’t even cleared for to start training yet, and then I’m dubbed the bad guy. It’s weird how people can spin stuff super easily and the people that are so gullible could just fall for anything.”
Sterling also claimed that Petr Yan threw the illegal knee deliberately because he was so frustrated at his inability to finish the fight. “The guy’s not looking, you throw an illegal knee six seconds later when you’re winning the fight at that point.
Why not let the guy up? That’s all I want people to understand. Why not let the guy up and continue to do the damage and the carnage that you were doing, since you’re so great? Make that make sense.
The guy was frustrated, he thought he was gonna get away with one, and that’s really what it comes down to. He thought he was gonna be able to do more damage and make it an illegal strike and get away with it, and thankfully the ref and the doctor saved me from myself.” How do you think the rematch will go down? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjFXoI89zMM
