He doesn't need instructions - Dan Hardy believes "cold" Petr Yan can beat Aljamain Sterling without any cornermen
Dan Hardy believes Petr Yan will recapture undisputed bantamweight gold in his upcoming rematch with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273. Sterling and Yan will co-headline the pay-per-view event, set to take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 9.
Yan's entire corner for the fight has apparently been denied visa requests to fly to the United States. This prompted 'No Mercy' to jokingly reach out to Henry Cejudo and Sean O'Malley to corner him for one fight.
According to Hardy, Yan has the ability to emerge victorious in the rematch without having anybody in his corner. He believes the Russian knows his job and doesn't need advice from cornermen to beat Sterling. In a recent interview with The Schmo, the former UFC title challenger said:
"I don't think he needs a corner man, I think he's the kind of guy, he's cold he would just walk there with the bucket and the water and the ice and he'd be fine on his own you don't need to give that man any instructions."
Watch Dan Hardy's interview with The Schmo below:
Hardy also pointed out that Sterling was "unraveling" in the later rounds of their first fight at UFC 259 last year. He claimed that 'Funk Master' wouldn't have won the belt had he not been illegally kneed by Yan during the last minute of the fourth round.
The illegal knee from Yan on Sterling #UFC259 https://t.co/UnzqTTafSl
Aljamain Sterling is confident he'll beat Petr Yan; looks forward to defending title against TJ Dillashaw next
Aljamain Sterling remains confident of retaining the title in the rematch with Petr Yan. He took to social media to claim he's willing to fight the Russian without anyone in his corner as well. Sterling is so confident of beating Yan that he claims he's already looking forward to a potential title defense against TJ Dillashaw.
The American tweeted:
"I will literally leave my corner in the backroom bro. Just say the word! I just wanna scrap you already and move on to Needleshaw [referring to TJ Dillashaw]."
I will literally leave my corner in the backroom bro. Just say the word! I just wanna scrap you already and move on to Needleshaw. twitter.com/petryanufc/sta…
In his last fight, Petr Yan defeated Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision to become the interim champ. He will now look to unify the titles on April 9th. Aljamain Sterling remained on the sidelines following his first fight with Yan due to lingering medical issues and this will be his first title defense.
Champion Aljamain Sterling will fight Interim Champion Petr Yan at #UFC273 on April 9th. (per @arielhelwani) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN https://t.co/jyztMen8P9