Aljamain Sterling is confident that Petr Yan will eventually cave to his suffocating pressure.
Sterling (19-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) challenges bantamweight champion Yan (15-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) at UFC 259 in a matchup that forms part of a championship triple-header on March 6.
“Funkmaster’s” grappling was on full display when he needed less than two minutes to choke out top contender Cory Sandhagen in June. That win earned Sterling his first UFC title shot and he’s looking to mimic that relentless grappling approach against the champion.
“When I break it down, styles make fights, no two fights are the same and it’s about who shows up,” Sterling told ESPN. “I think he’s been tested, I don’t think he’s necessarily had guys attacking him constantly like a Khabib-style type of pressure looking to get him to the ground, and that changes the tempo of the fight. He can try to stop the takedown with punches as much as he wants. I just need one takedown.
“I can shoot one hundred times, he can stop it one hundred times. I get that one takedown, that 101st attempt, I get him down on his back, it’s gonna be a long night for that guy. That’s what I honestly truly do believe. He’s good on the ground, I know he can hurt me, I know what the threats are but, at the end of the day, he has to connect. I just need to get my hands on him and it’ll be a bad night for him.”
Sterling explains that prior to fighting Sandhagen, he requested Yan, but matchmakers ended up giving him what he thinks was a tougher fight to prepare for. Now that he’s facing Yan, Sterling thinks while the champion poses threats, he has a relatively predictable approach.
“I know what I’m getting,” Sterling said on Yan. “I still know he’s dangerous and he’s fundamentally sound. I just wanna know how much gains he’s made in his defensive approach for stopping a takedown. There’s a reason he pulled out of the fight from the first one. We never had no clarity on why he pulled out of that fight. It’s gotta be something up.
“Whether or not he thought he found someone who could help mimic my style, but my style is like Sandhagen’s on the feet, it’s unpredictable when it hits the ground. I could scramble off my back, I could submit you off my back, I could do damage off my back, I could do damage on top, I got good top control, and I got good pressure against the cage, ala Kamaru Usman. So whatever it is, I think we get into those clinch situations, takedown situations, I think the fight favors me.”
Aljamain Sterling reveals key to victory over Petr Yan at UFC 259: ‘I just need one takedown’