Petr Yan lost his title to Aljamain Sterling in a controversial fashion- the champion was disqualified over an illegal knee.
The illegal knee from Yan on Sterling #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/UnzqTTafSl
— Fungible Dave (@FungibleDave) March 7, 2021
The controversy doesn’t end there. Whether the knee was illegal or not, the real scandal lies in whether the now Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling ‘faked’ the injury in order to win the fight via disqualification. Up to the knee Sterling was losing the fight.
The doctor has called off the fight after speaking to Aljamain Sterling, who was struck with an illegal knee by Petr Yan at #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/oRLduQfraV
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 7, 2021
The two champions have had a pretty heated rivalry online since that fight.
Pathetic liar desperately trying to look good and control the narrative but it won’t work. I’m vaccinated and ready to bash you anywhere even tomorrow. UFC simply doesn’t want fake champion to headline the event. https://t.co/aPG3WECd5m
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) January 12, 2022
The current Interim UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan posted a funny video of an interaction with his son.
In the video, Petr asks his son who is the UFC’s Bantamweight champion, and the kid does not miss the opportunity to poke fun at his father.
Ive been dying laughing at this since I came across it ?? pic.twitter.com/Kw7tHSNeV7
— Jason Williams (@jasoneg33) February 3, 2022
Aljo and Yan were expected to face each other in a rematch happening at UFC 267, but Sterling had to pull out of the fight due to a neck injury.
The title unification is now scheduled to take place at UFC 273 on April 9th.