"I was delirious" - Aljamain Sterling describes his immediate reaction to Petr Yan's illegal knee at UFC 259
Aljamain Sterling has detailed what went through his mind on the Octagon mat after receiving a nasty illegal knee strike from Petr Yan at UFC 259. The then-bantamweight champion applied an illegal move, kneeing Sterling to the head while he was down.
Referee Mark Smith immediately intervened and stopped the fight. Sterling stayed on the ground for a few minutes while the UFC doctor checked on him. Once he was up, 'Funk Master' was declared the new champion.
Fighters and fans heavily criticized Aljamain Sterling, accusing him of "acting" to win the bout. In a video posted to his YouTube channel, 'Funk Master' decided to give his side of the story, describing how he felt during that moment.
"I was delirious. I don't really remember what Mark Smith was asking me. I think I remember, like, looking back now, did he ask me if I wanted to continue? And I don't even know what I even said to him. I really don't. I do remember asking how much time did I have because I wanted to try to continue. Now, in this moment, I'm thinking a whole bunch of things that are going through my head: Dana [White] is not going to give me another shot at the [UFC bantamweight] title; the fight is going to be a no-contest; Dana is going to say, 'he was losing that fight in those four rounds so why should we use him again if we know the direction that the fight was heading at, so we're going to move on from it.' These are all the thoughts that were going through my head. I'm never going to get the opportunity again. I will have to win three or four more fights to get back to this position to ever challenge for a world title again. So, those thoughts were going through my head, not 'I'm going to become world champion!' This [pointing at the UFC belt], I didn't even want this."
Although the promotion has already signaled a rematch as soon as Aljamain Sterling recovers from injury, 'Funk Master' himself had a different idea.
Sterling has called out former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, who is currently retired, on social media. Cejudo has subsequently hinted at a possible comeback.
Aljamain Sterling didn't accept Petr Yan's fake apologies
Petr Yan issued a statement right after the fight asking for Aljamain Sterling's pardon because of his illegal knee. Nevertheless, the Russian was taking a different approach over the matter when speaking in his mother tongue.
In response, Aljamain Sterling said:
"Petr Yan, please allow me to cleanly knee you in the temple, while you aren't looking! See how much of a 'clown' I would be then. I can admit round four, you were starting to land more shots, but the fight was statistically close, despite me fatiguing early. The clown here is you."