Petr Yan lost his Bantamweight title via disqualification thanks to an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling
There was a ton of controversy at UFC 259 as Petr Yan defended his title against Aljamain Sterling.
There was a lot of bad blood between the stars ahead of the fight and Yan but on quite a show initially.
The champion dominated Sterling and was close to picking up a win. Sterling was struggling throughout the clash and the class of Yan seemed set to breeze him through the clash.
However, things took a nasty turn in the fourth round of the clash. Sterling was down and struggling. He was on one knee and Yan was holding his rival’s head. However, Yan then launched a vicious knee straight into the side of Sterling’s head.
The referee had already warned Yan that Sterling was down and kneeing a downed opponent is illegal in the UFC.
The fight was stopped as doctors checked up on Sterling and more was to come. The Funk Master looked like he was concussed and needed a ton of medical attention as the fight was called off.
There was more to come though as Yan was disqualified for his illegal knee and Sterling made the champion.
However, Sterling wanted to speak up and wasn’t happy as to how he won the title.
Yan is an experienced fighter and many blasted him for performing the illegal knee. However, Khabib Nurmagomedov explained just what had happened.
Khabib was at UFC 259 supporting Islam Makhachev and coached his friend and training partner in a win over Drew Dober.
Why did Petr Yan use an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling?
Yan is Russian and his coaches were constantly sharing advice to him. Khabib, who is also Russian, was overhearing them and told Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan what had happened.
Yan asked his coaches if he could kick the downed Sterling and his coaches said yes. Rogan confirmed this while speaking with Sterling and this was horrible advice from Yan’s coaches.
History was created but not the way either fighter would have wanted. This is the first time a title had changed hands due to a disqualification and it will be interesting to see what is next.
Many UFC stars were also calling out Yan and his team for this move, and this is a huge blot on his career.
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