"I don't have any conflict with him. I just want to beat his curly head!" - Petr Yan claims there is no bad blood with Aljamain Sterling
UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has nothing against his title challenger Aljamain Sterling.
Petr Yan will be putting his belt on the line in one of the three title fights at UFC 259 this Saturday. Despite not being the main event or co-feature, the brewing rivalry between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling has made this championship bout just as exciting as the other two.
However, Petr Yan says that there is no bad blood between him and Aljamain Sterling. It is all plain business, and he's looking forward to beat "his curly head" when they meet this Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
"I don't have any conflict with him, I just want to beat his curly head."
The fight was originally scheduled to take place at UFC 256, but got canceled when Petr Yan pulled out due to visa issues. Some other personal reasons were also cited by 'No Mercy', which has led to Aljamain Sterling questioning the legitimacy of said problems.
'Funkmaster' has claimed in multiple interviews that the "personal reasons" were nothing but excuses to stall the fight as the champion was inadequately prepared to fight him.
Aljamain Sterling to Petr Yan: I'm going to break you on Saturday
Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling had a heated face-off at the press conference, showing glimpses of what the fight promises to bring to the table. Aljamain Sterling was heard saying "I'm gonna break you on Saturday" to which the champion replied, "We'll see".
Aljamain Sterling has previously called Petr Yan a 'paper champion' since he has not yet been "tested enough" inside the octagon.
Even though Petr Yan defeated former featherweight champion Jose Aldo to pick up the vacant bantamweight belt, Aljamain Sterling is not ready to give him the credit just yet. He believes it will be "a short night" for the champion if he can "get his back" like other opponents have done in the past.
"I think Petr has very good grappling. I just don't think it's to the level of mine... Some of the competition that he's faced, I've got to train with those guys as well... If I get his back, like those guys have got his back in the past, it's gonna be a problem and it's gonna be a short night," said Aljamain Sterling.
The main card of UFC 259 will begin from 10 PM ET/ 7 PM PT on ESPN+ headlined by Jan Blachowicz vs Israel Adesanya over the light heavyweight belt.