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UFC star Aljamain Sterling won the UFC bantamweight championship on Saturday night after Petr Yan hit the American with an illegal knee in the fourth round of their stunning fight. Yan seemed to be on his way to scoring his first title defense victory only to see his title be ripped away from the Russian after he clubbed the downed fighter with an illegal knee.
Bleacher Report’s Tom Taylor noted how vicious the illegal knee looked and how it would probably be wrong to assume the Sterling had faked his way to a victory. Taylor posted, “This is an incredibly brutal knee. How can anyone accuse Sterling of milking this? He took a torpedo to the forehead.”
That post included a replay of the devastating shot.
Additionally, the new champ admitted it wasn’t the way he’d envisioned winning UFC gold.
“That’s not the way I wanted to win,” Sterling said during his post-fight interview. “…It’s F****** b*******.”
But that didn’t keep some of his fellow UFC stars from berating the new champ over his method of victory.
UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Vera claimed Sterling was faking in order to win the belt. Vera said the fighter should earn an “academy award” for the performance.
Former UFC bantamweight champ Demetrius Johnson didn’t have that to say, but the ONE Championship star did say he believes those kinds of knees should be legal.
Johnson said, “Here’s the thing you cant stall the fight by sitting on your knees. Knees to a grounded opponent should be allowed!”
Former UFC bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt said, “He better not take that belt with him..”.
The ex-UFC bantamweight king also suggested Sterling’s concussion seemed less than that during the post-fight interview.
Garbrandt posted, “Why the f*** interview him, if he is so concussed ??”.
Ex-UFC welterweight interim champ Colby Covington took a more comedic approach to the situation. Covington noted how the illegal knee and DQ made Covington’s prefight prediction correct.
UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes shared some of his thoughts, too. Reyes said,”…People recover faster when they actually get KO’d”.
It should also be noted that Reyes later admitted, “For the record. That move by Yan was boneheaded and illegal and he should lose if his opponent can’t continue.”
As for Yan, the ex-champ apologized for the illegal strike. Yan posted, “I apologize and wish speedy recovery to @funkmasterMMA I didn’t mean to throw an illegal strike, I just made a big mistake and paid for it.”
More reactions are sure to be on the way. Heavy will post them as they happen.
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