Aljamain Sterling comments on winning belt via 'that f@$%ing knee'

Aljamain Sterling set a record on Saturday night, but not one he, or any fighter, wants. After being hit cleanly with a knee to the face while he was down by soon-to-be not bantamweight champion Petr Yan. The cageside doctor declared Sterling unable to continue, referee Mark Smith (having told Yan that Sterling was down) declared the knee intentional, and for the first time in UFC history, a champion was crowned based on a disqualification.

In the immediate post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan, a highly emotional Sterling talked about it.

Everything I worked for to this point and to f***ing have the fight go like that, said Sterling. I thought the fight was very close, but I was down two rounds. That’s not the way I wanted to win. That’s not the way I envisioned this.”

The disqualification happened in Round 4. A look at the judge’s scorecards showed that Yan was ahead via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29). If the knee had been declared unintentional, Yan would have won a Split Decision. But Yan reportedly asked his corner what do to, and heard a call to kick Sterling, so he did, and was DQ’d. There is an argument against Open Scoring, that in a case like this, the fouled opponent, if he knows he is ahead, would feign severe effect, and win. But Sterling thought he was down, and still was obviously unable to continue.

I was trying to continue, even be all f***ed up like that, but I was in bad shape. It would’ve just been the ego taking over and just get further punishment. The ref told me I was down. I don’t know, man. I understand there’s some heat and some bad blood, but this is a rivalry.

I wanted to continue. The fight was fast-paced. There was a lot of action, and I know the fans were enjoying that. I know this is going to be potentially one of the fights of the year and one of the greatest bantamweights fight in history for the title. I mean, the action was non-stop until that f***ing knee.

At the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said he was open to an immediate rematch. So this one will run back, likely in the summer.