Petr Yan became the first UFC champion to lose his belt because of a disqualification at UFC 259. Joe Rogan recently talked about the disqualification, the controversy surrounding it, and the confusion about the illegal knee on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
(Video courtesy of PowerfulJRE)
Yan was winning the bout with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, when he launched an illegal knee to Sterling’s head while he was a downed opponent.
Not only was the knee illegal, it was also deemed by referee Mark Smith to be intentional. Because of these two factors, Yan was disqualified, forfeiting his UFC bantamweight belt to Sterling, as a result.
There has been much speculation about the situation ever since. Why was Yan disqualified? Was Sterling putting on a performance to get out of the fight?
Rogan and podcast guest Mat Fraser broke it down.
Aljamain Sterling: ‘I don’t feel like a true champion’
Joe Rogan addresses controversy, confusion over Petr Yan’s UFC 259 illegal knee
