Judges Gonna Judge: Did Petr Yan win the first round against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273?

Welcome to “Judges Gonna Judge,” where our MMA Junkie staff panel revisits the most controversial decision that occurred over the weekend.

This week, we look at the UFC 273 bantamweight title rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. The pay-per-view co-main event aimed to settle the score between these top fighters in the division, following the illegal knee that ended their first meeting.

While the second fight made it to the finish line with no disqualification, the result was a split decision that sparked even more debate. Sterling was declared the winner after edging a close opening round followed by two dominant rounds of control time. Yan finished the fight strong and took the final two rounds on all three scorecards.

Judges Sal D’Amato and Eliseo Rodriguez saw the fight the same, scoring the first three rounds for Sterling with 10-9 scores in each and the championship rounds in Yan’s favor. The dissenting judge in this fight was Christopher Lee, who scored the opening round for Yan with a 10-9, while the rest of his scorecard matched D’Amato and Rodriguez.

The debate following this title fight seems to boil down to two questions:

• Did Yan win the first round?
• Should there have been a 10-8 score issued in the second round for Sterling?

MMA Junkie’s Matthew Wells, Farah Hannoun, and Mike Bohn put on their judging hats and break the fight down by each round.