UFC 259: Petr Yan ‘didn’t mean to do illegal shot’ vs Aljamain Sterling – ‘you make mistakes’
- ‘No Mercy’ hopes for a rematch against Sterling after losing bantamweight belt via dramatic disqualification
- ‘I was just too focused on his hands, and forgot about his legs,’ says the Russian
Petr Yan has insisted he had no intention of hitting Aljamain Sterling with an illegal strike in their dramatic bantamweight title belt at UFC 259.
“You see everything, I don’t even know what to say,” Yan told media, via a translator, in a post-fight interview at the Apex facility. “Before the fight, the ref was paying lots of attention about positions when fighters are on the ground or not.
“So I was just too focused on his hands, and just forgot about his legs. Obviously I didn’t mean to do an illegal shot.
“Of course, if his knee was on the ground, he was grounded opponent, but I didn’t do it intentionally. There is a belt on the line and you make mistakes,” he added.
There was some discussion in the UFC analyst booth that one of Yan’s coaches had told him to hit Sterling when “The Funkmaster” was grounded.
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“To be honest, I didn’t really understand what they were yelling, I was just focused on the hands, and throwing the knee when he would be up,” Yan added. “For a while I thought I did everything right and that he was knocked out.”
The 31-year-old Jamaican-American Sterling cried in the cage after the cageside doctor assessed that he was unable to continue, and the official ended the fight.
“I don’t know [if he could continue], he knows better than me, but I think everyone saw that I was winning this fight,” Yan said.
One judge had given Sterling the first two rounds, but Yan was ahead 29-28 on the other two scorecards.
Either way, Sterling threw the belt on the Octagon canvas soon after UFC president Dana White had wrapped it around his waist.
“It sucks. I think him as a fighter, he also don’t accept the belt as well. And if he’s gonna be healthy, I hope we’re gonna have a rematch soon,” Yan said.
“Of course, I would be very upset if there is no rematch, but I’m already upset about it.”
