Petr Yan’s UFC 259 cornerman expects “an even more dangerous” Yan in a rematch against Aljamain Sterling
The highly-anticipated bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, which took place at UFC 259 this past weekend, didn’t play out as anyone expected it would.
Although Sterling found a bit of success early on, the Long Island native noticeably began to fade, and Yan quickly began to pull away as the rounds went on. Calm and composed, the Russian not only landed big shots on the feet, but he clearly outwrestled Sterling, which came as a surprise to some.
However, things then went south, as Yan, who was ahead on the scorecards heading into the championship rounds, landed an illegal knee to the head of a downed Sterling in the fourth round. The fight was called off, and Sterling became the first fighter in UFC history to win a title by disqualification.
In the aftermath of the bout, Yan’s corner has been criticized, as some believe that the fighter was instructed to kick Sterling while he was down. One member of the corner, Marcos “Parrumpinha” de Matta, who worked with Yan for the first time at American Top Team before UFC 259, claims that he only instructed Yan to punch his opponent while in that position.
“The referee spent a good time explaining that rule,” da Matta said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I told [Yan it] didn’t matter where the hand was, he had to worry about the knee. If the knee is on the ground, you can’t do anything. One of the things we discussed was, if that happens, push his head down to the ground because Aljamain has an injured neck and keep punching.
“The video shows me saying, ‘Just punch, just punch.’ Only if someone else said something different. Since I don’t understand Russian, I don’t know what [the other cornermen] said, but they told me afterward they just said, ‘Hit him’ in Russian, they didn’t tell him to throw the knee.”
Regardless of what was said in the corner, the fight’s outcome remains the same, and it’s certainly one of the most bizarre endings to a title fight in the promotion’s history. How it ended has also led to Sterling receiving quite a bit of backlash.
Although he clearly looked disoriented following the knee, many, including both fighters and fans, have accused “FunkMaster” of “acting” or “faking” in order to have the fight called off. Although de Matta wouldn’t judge Sterling for how things played out, the coach does believe that Yan was clearly in control of the bout.
“That’s a question only he will be able to answer, and only he will know the truth,” da Matta said. “He can tell everyone, even his mother and his wife, that he couldn’t go back, but only he truly knows if he could or couldn’t. But he was losing the fight, he only won the second round, and he knows Yan was growing and he was fading.
“Everybody saw he was tired already, he pulled guard several times, something a wrestler doesn’t do. If he really had cardio, he would have continued to do what he did in the second round, but he didn’t. And since Petr only gets better after every round, I was confident that Petr would KO or TKO him in the last round — in the very least a 10-8. The fight was won.”
While this topic will remain a talking point as we move forward, all that’s left to do now is run things back. After the fight, UFC President Dana White said that he would be looking to book a rematch between Sterling and Yan as soon as possible.
When that time comes, de Matta expects “an even more dangerous” version of the Russian to show up on fight night.
“He’s already done four rounds with Aljamain and pretty much knows what to expect in a rematch,” da Matta said. “The first hard punch Petr landed was a knockdown, an overhand right, so I think that will help in the rematch. I’d expect an even more dangerous Petr in the rematch.”
