Aljamain Sterling is the new UFC Bantamweight Champion as Peter Yan disqualified for intentional illegal strike

There are three title fights going down at UFC 259 this Saturday, March 6. The main event is when two champions will collide as the middleweight king Israel Adesanya challenges the light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The reigning women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes welcomes Australia’s Megan Anderson in the co-main event.

In the first title fight of the night, Peter “No Mercy” Yan (15-1) defends his bantamweight championship for the first time against Aljamain “Funk Master” Sterling (19-3). Most people believe that Yan wants to keep this fight on the feet and Sterling would like to get it to the ground and submit the champ. Their tense and colorful conversation at the weigh-ins seemed to solidify that analysis as the Funk Master told No Mercy that ” you can’t hit what you can’t see” and “I’m going to get the takedown and drown you!” Sterling is freakishly athletic and super quick while Yan is very powerful for a 135 lb man. This should be a very interesting clash of styles and wills. Here is how the UFC Bantamweight championship went down as MyMMANews saw it including round by round scoring. Full event results are right here.

Round 1

Sterling opens up with a body kick and it’s continuing that attack with his legs. Sterling is the aggressor early and has Yan moving backwards and he lands a knee to the face. Sterling is mixing up his striking and look strong early on. A flying the glances and scores from Sterling. Yan looks very hesitant and Sterling continues to move forward. Sterling in on a double leg and he secures the takedown. Yan does get back up pretty quickly. Yan has a body lock on Sterling and has him pushed up against the cage and they separate. Yan lands on nice right that sends Sterling to the canvas but he is right back up. Sterling looking for the throw the winds up on the ground and is landing some body strikes and they are back to their feet . Yan get’s behind Sterling and lifts him up and takes him to the ground and Sterling escapes immediately. That ends the round.

MyMMANews scores round 1 10-9 Sterling

Round 2

Sterling continues with a leg attack but slips and Yan pushes into the ground. Yan standing landing a leg kick and then Sterling gets back to his feet. Sterling is in a double leg but Yan doesn’t nice job defending. Sterling still has the champion pressed up against the cage as it continues to look for the takedown. Good escape from the champion and they’re back to the center of the cage. And we are back to the clench with Sterling pushing Yan up against the cage. Sterling has a hold of a single leg and Yan landing some punches to the body to defend. Excellent takedown defense from the defending champion and they are back to the center of the cage. Sterling continues to move forward and lands of standing elbow and a spinning back elbow. Very close round. Yan scores a takedown with 15 seconds left. I’m giving this round to Sterling 10-9 beast on octagon control.

MyMMANews scores round 2 10-9 Sterling

Round 3

Yan checks a couple leg kicks and lands a nice left. Yan is moving forward much more in round 3. Yan is landing with his hands. The champion looks to be the fresher fighter. Sterling continues to look for the takedown and Yan does a nice job and throws Sterling to the ground. Sterling has slowed down and his takedown attempt was very weak. Sterling on the attack now Landing some leg kicks.

MyMMANews scores round 3 10-9 Yan

Round 4

Yan trips Sterling and tries to land a couple kicks to the downed fighter and Sterling gets back to his feet. Both guys are putting together some scoring combinations. Sterling’s jab landed a couple of times. Nice kick to the body from Yan and you could see Sterling wince. Sterling does look like he’s a little gassed and his takedown attempts have been unsuccessful. Beautiful left from Yan lands. Knee to the body followed by a 1-2 from Yan. As Sterling was down on his knees, Yan lands and illegal knee to the head and referee Mike Smith steps in. You could hear the referee tell Yan that Sterling was down before he threw the knee so it was clearly an intentional illegal blow.

You could hear Sterling tell the doctor that he doesn’t want the fight to end like that but he is struggling. This fight doesn’t look like it can continue and if it does, Sterling is going to be in a really bad position.

That is the end of the fight. We will wait for the official result but it was clearly an illegal strike from the champion. Sterling did his best to recover but to me it looks like he may have a concussion.

Official results… 4:29 of round 4, fight was stopped due to intentional illegal strike and your new UFC Bantamweight champion is Aljamain Sterling via disqualification

'Beautiful' Bob Meloni

More than 15 years experience in the PA/NJ regional MMA circuit. Commentator/post fight interviews/pre-fight show host @ Art of War Cage Fighting and Ring of Combat The story of the fighter is what Bob loves about the sport. From the lowest level, to the highest, he only cares about the two warriors who do battle once the cage doors close. Everything else is secondary. Without their blood, sweat, and tears, he would not be here enjoying every minute.

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