Aljamain Sterling didn’t expect to become a UFC champion the way he did Saturday night.
The 31-year-old became the first fighter in UFC history to win a title due to disqualification after taking an illegal knee from Petr Yan at UFC 259 in Las Vegas.
Sterling (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) was hit with a knee to the head in the fourth round while he was a downed opponent. Sterling immediately dropped to the canvas and appeared badly hurt. With Sterling unable to continue, Yan was disqualified and Sterling was crowned champion.
“Everything I worked for to this point and to f*cking have the fight go like that,” Sterling told UFC commentator Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. “I thought the fight was very close, but I was down two rounds. That’s not the way I wanted to win. That’s not the way I envisioned this.
“I was trying to continue, even be all f*cked up like that, but I was in bad shape. It would’ve just been the ego taking over and just get further punishment. The ref told me I was down. I don’t know, man. I understand there’s some heat and some bad blood, but this is a rivalry.”
Sterling and Yan had a high-paced, back-and-forth battle until the illegal shot. Two judges had the fight scored 29-28,for Yan and one 29-28 Sterling. “The Funkmaster” knows the bout was close and hopes to have an immediate rematch in the near future.
“I wanted to continue,” Sterling said. “The fight was fast-paced. There was a lot of action, and I know the fans were enjoying that. I know this is going to be potentially one of the fights of the year and one of the greatest bantamweights fight in history for the title. I mean, the action was non-stop until that (explicit) knee.”
Good news for Sterling and Yan is that UFC president Dana White said during the post-fight news conference that he’s all in on booking an immediate rematch.
Aljamain Sterling upset about UFC 259 DQ: ‘That’s not the way I wanted to win’ title
