'You won't get a more illegal knee' than the one Petr Yan landed on Aljamain Sterling, says UFC's Davey Grant
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Alan Dawson
Mar 10, 2021, 17:58 IST
Aljamain Sterling recovers after Petr Yan's illegal knee.Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Petr Yan's finishing move against Aljamain Sterling couldn't have been more illegal.
That's according to fellow UFC bantamweight Davey Grant.
Grant said Sterling, who won via DQ, will need to reassess ahead of their inevitable rematch.
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Petr Yan's finishing strike against Aljamain Sterling in Saturday's UFC 259 show in Las Vegas couldn't have been more illegal, according to fellow bantamweight fighter Davey Grant.
The behind-closed-doors UFC 259 event was one of the UFC's most exciting in several months, featuring many of the promotion's champions, several wild fights, and extraordinary endings.
Defending UFC bantamweight champion Yan was leading 2-1 on all three of the judges' scorecards heading into the fourth of five rounds in one of the final bouts on the night.
Sterling was given time to recover, but appeared in bad shape, and after consultation with the Octagonside physician, the ref called time on the match and awarded the win to the American via disqualification.
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It was the first time a new UFC champion had been crowned via a disqualification of the reigning champ.
"It was crazy, wasn't it," Grant, a 135-pound competitor in the UFC, told Insider this week.
"It was a great fight up until that fight but you won't get a more illegal knee than that. It was a shame to see it end like that, but you just can't do that. How can you expect someone to carry on after that, especially when you're downed?
"The shots that hurt the most are the ones you don't know are coming," Grant said. "When you're on your knees, the last thing you expect to take is a shot like that, so it must have been a really hard shot to take.
Grant added that while the bout finishing in such a manner was "anti-climactic," the disqualification was the right thing for the referee to do.
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"It wouldn't have been fair [to make Sterling continue] after taking that illegal knee."
Medical suspensions are commonplace in combat sports and Sterling was one of 20 UFC 259 athletes the NSAC ordered to have time away from fighting, as Insider reported Tuesday.
Regardless, the way the fight ended has fueled talk of an immediate rematch.
Grant told Insider that, while the fight was close, Sterling's camp in particular will need to reassess.
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Yan was getting the better of Sterling, according to Grant
"I think Yan was getting the better of him," he said.
"I think it looked to me that Yan would take the win after five rounds, or sooner, so Aljo will probably have a bit of work to do in his camp.
"The rematch will be a cracking fight either way," he said.
Grant has his own bantamweight fight at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas as he fights the former street-fighter Johnathan Martinez on the main card of Saturday's UFC Fight Night 187 event.
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