'Nice knee' - Petr Yan makes a point of congratulating Adriano Moraes after high-profile win over Demetrious Johnson
Petr Yan congratulated Adriano Moraes for successfully defending his flyweight title on ONE on TNT 1. Moraes won the fight by TKO after landing a knee strike on his opponent Demetrious Johnson while he was down.
Petr Yan tweeted his reaction to Moraes's win. Interestingly, Yan did not forget to draw attention to how quickly Johnson recovered after getting hit with the knee - something that Yan's opponent Aljamain Sterling struggled to do after getting hit with a similar strike at UFC 259. The strike resulted in Yan's title loss. Petr Yan's tweet takes a jab at 'Funkmaster' for taking the disqualification win:
MMA promotions UFC and ONE FC follow different sets of fighting rules. Throwing knees or kicks at a downed opponent is illegal in the UFC, but it is fair to practice in ONE FC.
Adriano Moraes knocked out Demetrious Johnson with a knee at ONE on TNT 1 when the latter tried to scramble with Moraes after getting knocked down. Adriano Moraes retained his title with the win and became the first fighter to stop the legendary Demetrious Johnson with strikes. However, Johnson got back up soon after and completed the post-fight formalities with a positive spirit.
A similar move cost Petr Yan UFC gold when he attempted the first successful defense of his title at UFC 259. After a knee strike from Yan visibly hurt a downed Sterling in the fourth round, the referee called a pause in the action for the challenger to recover.
However, Sterling was awarded a disqualification win after he failed to recover during the time out. Petr Yan has condemned the result and has also accused Aljamain Sterling of acting out the damage to win the title.
The UFC has not booked the rematch between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling yet
Petr Yan has continued to attack Aljamain Sterling on social media in a bid to get a rematch since losing his title at UFC 259. However, there has been no official statement from the UFC on the matter.
The primary reason behind the UFC's silence is that Yan was cruising to a victory before the illegal knee stopped the fight. There is little evidence to suggest that a rematch would unfold differently.
Although Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling 2 makes the most sense at the moment, the result of upcoming bantamweight fights - Cory Sandhagen vs TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt vs Rob Font - will open the door to opportunities for a lot more intriguing and possibly competitive fights. It is unlikely that the UFC will announce the next opponent for Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling before these fights unfold.