Aljamain Sterling agrees with Petr Yan's call for a trilogy
Aljamain Sterling was hoping to silence his many doubters during this weekend's UFC 273 co-main event. The bantamweight champion, who had originally won the belt after Petr Yan's illegal knee at UFC 259, successfully defended his belt in controversial fashion with a split decision victory in their rematch.
The pair's second bout was Sterling's first successful title defense and his seventh straight victory in the UFC.
The split decision loss is now Petr Yan's second loss in a row to Sterling and his only two losses in the UFC. The Russian-born fighter was unhappy with the result.
Yan, speaking with Joe Rogan in his post-fight press interview, disagreed with the judges' decision:
"I think I won this fight and I got robbed."
Watch Petr Yan's octagon interview:
Hours later, both bantamweights expressed themselves on Twitter, giving fans an insight into how they're feeling post-fight and what the future holds.
Yan appeared to be more content with the result by tweeting the following:
🏼Life goes on. Goal remains the same! Thanks for the support 😊✊🏼
This is in stark contrast to his post-post-fight interview where he demanded a rematch after being unhappy with the loss.
'Funk Master' was, however, quick to respond to 'No Mercy' and has provided fans with a tease for a potential trilogy between the two.
Sterling responded with:
Trilogy 2023 twitter.com/petryanufc/sta…
If the bantamweight pair were to fight for a third time, it would be the fourteenth trilogy in UFC history and only the third clean sweep if Aljamain were to win again.
Aljamain Sterling open to fighting T.J. Dillashaw before Yan trilogy
A potential trilogy fight will likely only take place if Aljamain Sterling is successful in his next bout, with all signs pointing towards T.J. Dillashaw as his next title defense.
Sterling called out the former bantamweight champion in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, saying:
"T.J. Dillashaw where the f**k you at? You next motherf****r."
Sterling even went as far as to poke fun at Dillashaw's doping violation, which had him banned from competing for two years:
"T.J. Needleshaw! T.J. Pillashaw!"
You can watch Sterling's post-fight interview here:
Sterling's controversial split-decision victory has left Petr Yan and many fans wanting them to run it back for a third time. However, it seems we will have to wait as Dana White has all but confirmed that T.J. Dillashaw is next in line.