Aljamain Sterling certainly feels Petr Yan's takedown defense should not be compared to that of Jose Aldo's.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan went up against Merab Dvalishvili this past weekend in a highly anticipated clash. 'The Machine' ended up winning the bout via unanimous decision after dominating the Russian for five rounds. Merab Dvalishvili also broke the record for the most takedowns attempted during a fight.
Following the bout, a lot of question marks were raised over Petr Yan's takedown defense. Interestingly, Yan's takedown defense was even compared to that of Jose Aldo over Twitter. However, Aljamain Sterling was quick to shut the idea down.
It is worth noting that Merab Dvalishvili has fought Jose Aldo in the past and he was not quite as successful with takedowns as he was with Petr Yan. However, while replying to the tweet, Aljamain Sterling suggested that Yan was taken down more times only because he was constantly trying to escape and move:
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"Not an accurate take IMHO, respectfully. If you sit on the cage and opt not to attempt to escape, your TDD could look like Aldo’s with basic fundamentals. Yan actually tried to get off the cage and move. That leaves you open to more TDs. But what do I know."
Take a look at the tweet below:
Will Aljamain Sterling fight Merab Dvalishvili?
With a win over Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili has certainly cemented himself as a deserving challenger for the UFC bantamweight championship. However, it is unlikely that 'The Machine' will fight for the title anytime soon.
The UFC bantamweight championship lies in the hands of Aljamain Sterling, who happens to be a teammate and very close friend of Merab Dvalishvili. Due to the same, 'The Machine' and Sterling have decided not to square off inside the octagon.
While talking about potentially fighting Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili suggested that he will fight for the belt only when 'Aljo' decides to move up in the weight class. During a post-fight octagon interview, Dvalishvili stated:
"Aljo was telling me now, 'Call the belt.' Hey man, he's my brother and he's a real champion. Only me and him knows who's real champion... But whenever he decides [to] go up in weight class... then after, I will fight [for the] title. Of course, I want to be champion and now I prove again... and I'm hungry."
Watch the interview below: