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.