Aljamain Sterling reveals Merab Dvalishvili's gameplan to beat Petr Yan
Aljamain Sterling recently discussed what Merab Dvalishvili's game plan would be against Petr Yan in their upcoming fight.
Dvalishvili and former division champ Yan will face off in the main event of UFC Vegas 71 on March 11th. This will be the UFC's first event held at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.
Appearing on a recent episode uploaded to his YouTube channel, Aljamain Sterling shared a detailed breakdown of how the fight between 'No Mercy' and 'The Machine' would turn out.
Putting forth his thoughts, Sterling explained that the Georgian fighter has the advantage of having the "striker's blueprint" from the Russian's last fight against Sean O'Malley and the "wrestling blueprints" from his own fight against Petr Yan at UFC 273.
Providing a technical breakdown of the fight, the Champ said:
"When Yan tries to be super technical, it'll leave those wild strikes some opening and some room for him [Merab Dvalishvili] to set things up to get those takedowns. Or just get the entry and push him against the cage, drop a couple of strikes, push off, go back and do that again. And it's not Merab's job to get out of the cage, it's Petr's job to get off the cage to do damage. Merab's job is to put him on a cage, do damage, try to take him down, do damage."
He further continued:
" And that's gonna have to be the tempo of the fight... this is a dangerous fight for Merab, but this is just as dangerous of a fight for Petr Yan... Merab just needs to be super dialed in, and I think he has the blueprint already on how to beat him"
Check out Aljamain Sterling share a detailed breakdown of the upcoming bantamweight fight in the video below [7:24 mark]:
Aljamain Sterling shares his take on Francis Ngannou's recent exit from the UFC
On a recent episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Aljamain Sterling discussed the controversy between Francis Ngannou and the UFC. Sterling argued that both the UFC and Ngannou should share the blame for the situation, accusing the Cameroonian of not understanding the importance of the UFC in his rise to fame, while also criticizing the promotion for not allowing Ngannou to box while under contract.
"If I'm being honest, I'm gonna say I think both sides of the party messed up. I think Francis needs the UFC in regards to continuing his rise into the mainstream. People know who he is, but I think for him to get to that next level - he beats a guy like Jon Jones, that's like undeniable. Now, he goes out, he's a free agent. How much money is he gonna really generate from these other promotions? I don't know."
He continued:
"I look at the UFC - you let the baddest man on the planet walk - over what? Because the guy wants to do a boxing fight while he's still under contract? I mean, Conor did it, why can't Francis do it?... I don't know what the strategy really is. I just hope whatever he does, honestly, it's the best financial means for him."
Check out Aljamain Sterling put forth his views on the matter in the video below [2:12:30 mark]: