"It's not a robbery in any way" - Josh Thomson and John McCarthy on controversial Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan scorecard
Josh Thomson and John McCarthy recently weighed in on Aljamain Sterling's controversial decision victory over Petr Yan. After Sterling reeled in a closely contested split decision at UFC 273, many felt the scorecards were unfair to Yan.
However, McCarthy and Thomson don't think Yan was robbed. According to Thomson, the decision was by no means a robbery, even if one of the rounds was close. The former UFC fighter said on the Weighing In podcast:
"It's not a robbery in any way. If you wanna give him one of those rounds, whatever, it's not a robbery. Aljo did what he had to do. He came in, he performed, he did the best he could. What he did better this time was he came in more relaxed... He realized that this is a five-round fight and he didn't blow his wad in the first two rounds."
Watch the Weighing In podcast below:
Having dethroned Petr Yan via a disqualification win last year, Sterling was eager to silence his haters at the recently concluded UFC 273 pay-per-view.
After going back-and-forth in the opening round, Sterling schooled Yan on the mat in rounds two and three. 'No Mercy' was threatened with multiple rear-naked choke attempts but managed to survive and mount a comeback in the championship rounds. Nevertheless, Sterling managed to reel in a tight split decision, which was decided by a very close first round.
#UFC273 Official Scorecard: Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMasterMMA) vs Petr Yan
All Tonight's Scorecards: ufc.com/news/official-… https://t.co/Pmnj7F4wqW
He fought angry and dumb - Josh Thomson and John McCarthy criticize Petr Yan's performance at UFC 273
Following Aljamain Sterling's win over Petr Yan, the UFC bantamweight champion called out T.J. Dillashaw in his post-fight interview. Meanwhile, Yan called for an immediate rematch against the reigning titleholder, clearly incensed with the judges' decision.
According to Josh Thomson and John McCarthy, Yan's anger was his undoing. Weighing in on the Russian's performance, McCarthy said:
"You could see he [Yan] was loading up, he fought angry. And we always talk about, you fight angry, you don't fight well. You can't be angry. You can't be mad. And he was. And you could see it at times."
Thompson agreed, adding that the former champion made some "dumb" decisions during the fight. He criticized Yan for giving his back despite being aware of Sterling's excellent submission game, saying:
"Not only did he fight angry, there were moments where he fought dumb. Where he started his back. And everyone that watch Aljo fight or if you ever studed him at all and you hear it through the grapevine how good he is on the back. What are you doing?"