"Ours cannot be taken away from us" - Petr Yan posts intense workout video ahead of Aljamain Sterling rematch
Petr Yan has posted an intense workout video ahead of his UFC 273 title unifier against Aljamain Sterling. The interim bantamweight champ can be seen hitting the treadmill in one clip and doing defensive work in another. The Russian fighter wrote in the caption:
"Ours cannot be taken away from us! Saturday is both working and restorative"
Watch Yan's workout video below:
Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling clashed for the first time at UFC 259 in March last year with the Russian's banatamweight title on the line. Yan was leading on two of the judges' scorecards when he landed a brutal illegal knee on Sterling in the fourth round. ' The Funk Master' was deemed unfit to continue and became the first in UFC history to be crowned champion via a DQ win.
While Yan issued an apology in the immediate aftermath of the bout, he subsequently went on to question Sterling's authenticity as champion. The two were set to clash in a rematch at UFC 267 in October last year.
However, 'The Funk Master' was forced to pull out for neck surgery and was replaced by Cory Sandhagen, who dropped an interim title shot against Yan. 'No Mercy' will now face Sterling in a highly anticipated title unifier at the UFC 273 co-headliner.
Aljamain Sterling believes Petr Yan kneed him out of frustation
Referee Mark Smith even warned Petr Yan about his 'downed' opponent before 'No Mercy' landed the devastating knee. While Yan was leading on the scorecards, Sterling believes that the Russian was frustrated with his inability to finish the fight. According to 'The Funk Master', Yan illegally kneed him out of frustration. The 32-year old recently said on The MMA Hour:
“Frustration. You’ve got this guy who’s a zombie, a guy who’s got no power on his punches ... . This guy’s not going anywhere. He lands two head kicks before he tries to shoot and get me down to the ground again. I think he’s annoyed. I think he’s frustrated. I think he thinks, ‘You know what, screw this guy. I’m gonna throw this strike because one of my cornermen told me to throw punches, the other guy tells me to throw a kick, and I’m too dumb to move my hands to see where his knees are, so I’m just gonna throw an illegal strike.’"
Watch Sterling's interview with Ariel Helwani below: