"There's absolutely no way to score round 1 for Sterling!” - Aljamain Sterling tweets out an image in response to his controversial split decision win over Petr Yan
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has taken to Twitter in response to criticism of his title defense victory at UFC 273 against Petr Yan. 'Funk Master', who had originally won the belt in controversial circumstances after an illegal knee from 'No Mercy', was looking to silence his doubters and prove that he deserved to be the champion without question.
The two men stepped into the octagon for a second time and put on a five-round classic that led to Sterling walking away as the champion once again, only this time it was a split decision victory. 'Funk Master', whose mission was to put legitimacy on his claim as champion, has been met with even more contention after 'No Mercy' demanded a third fight in his post-fight interview and a wave of backlash on social media that followed.
“Theres absolutely no way to score round 1 for Sterling!”
“Theres absolutely no way to score round 1 for Sterling!” 🥲🥲🥲
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#GiveMeYourTears #AndStill #Undisputed #TheWeeklyScraps https://t.co/Vbj8Jctr9F
Aljamain Sterling appears unphased by the latest controversy, as it is the first round of the fight that has led to the most dispute. A clear round two-and-three win for Sterling and a four-and-five-round win for Yan, meant that round one should have decided the fight.
'Funk Master' believes, despite it not being overtly obvious that either fighter did much of anything in the first, that he did enough to have the round scored 10-9 in his favor, highlighting this with one of his significant strikes in the image above.
Who is next for Aljamain Sterling?
In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Aljamain Sterling was asked who he'd like to face next. 'Funk Master' took the microphone and called out T.J. Dillashaw, who was sitting in the front row of the crowd.
However, while speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Sterling was asked about his post-fight call out and if he intended to honor it.
"When I thought about it afterwards, he really doesn't deserve it. Maybe because I was tired of hearing the narrative that he was going to fight the winner of myself and Yan for the first time in Abu Dhabi... Honestly if theres anyone more deserving, it's probably Aldo."
While not ruling out the possibility of fighting Aldo, Sterling hinted that it seemed as though the UFC was more intent on making him fight Dillashaw next, which 'Funk Master' had no issues with, believing it would only add more to his resume and legacy as the bantamweight champion in the UFC.
Watch Aljamain Sterling's full interview on The MMA Hour here: