'I feel like he started to exaggerate' - Petr Yan accuses Aljamain Sterling of making the most of his illegal knee

Petr Yan is not willing to give Aljamain Sterling the benefit of the doubt. The former UFC bantamweight champion believes that Aljamain Sterling exaggerated the impact of an illegal knee thrown by Yan to win the championship fight by disqualification at UFC 259.

Petr Yan shared his account of the incident in an interview with Ariel Helwani of ESPN. "No Mercy" told Helwani that Aljamain Sterling abandoned his attempt to recover as soon as he heard the referee tell the doctor that Yan would be disqualified if Sterling was unable to continue. Aljamain Sterling decided to choose a disqualification to win rather than continuing, Petr Yan stated.

"You can see. After the knee landed, he was trying to recover. But then I feel like he started to exaggerate, he started acting. Because he heard what the referee said. I feel like he could've continued but he chose not to. First, he claimed he doesn't remember what happened and then he started explaining what happened. Then he is doing interviews after the fight and tell what was going on. So for me, he was very well aware of what was going on and what he was doing. It was his decision to get a disqualification win," Petr Yan's translator said.

Petr Yan attempted the first successful defense of his UFC bantamweight title against No. 1 ranked Aljamain Sterling at the UFC 259 PPV event. Both fighters put on phenomenal performances, but the scales started tipping in the champ's favor as the bout went on. An illegal knee from Petr Yan in the fourth round appeared to have hurt Aljamain Sterling and called for a pause in the action while "Funkmaster" tried to recover.

Knees and kicks to a downed opponent are illegal in the Nevada State

The fight was ruled a disqualification victory for Aljamain Sterling after he was rendered unable to continue, crowning him the new undisputed champion of the division. The extent of the damage caused by the knee and Aljamain Sterling's actions after the event have become major topics of discussion in the days since.

Sterling's immediate reaction to the title change was that of disbelief and disappointment. But the feeling sank in quickly as the new champ called out retired champion Henry Cejudo on Twitter.

All that talking stops when face to face! We can do this fight next instead! .@danawhite https://t.co/ogISOnx5OD

— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) March 8, 2021

Aljamain Sterling substantiated Petr Yan's remarks

Petr Yan's remarks about Aljamain Sterling exaggerating the damage are substantiated by Sterling's own explanation of the incident. The new champion took to his YouTube channel to shed light on his mindset in the moments after he got hit with the knee.

"In this moment I am thinking about a whole bunch of things. Dana is not gonna give me another shot at the title, the fight is gonna be a no contest, Dana is gonna say he was losing that fight in the fourth round so why should we use him again lest we knew the direction that fight was headed. So we are gonna move on from this. these are all the thoughts that are going through my head and me, I am not gonna get that opportunity again. Those thoughts were going through my head and not, 'I'm going to be a champion.' I didn't even want this (title)," Aljamain Sterling said.

A damaging shot capable of rendering fighters unable to continue tends to separate them from their senses. It is highly unlikely for a badly hurt fighter to make a conscious decision after weighing all the different factors that Aljamain Sterling explained in his YouTube video. However, there is no way to quantify the impact of a strike that was unexpected.

Lower weight classes demand attributes that don't stay with fighters when they start to move past 30. Aljamain Sterling is a 31 year old fighter in a division that has a talented group of challengers lined up for a title shot. The fight against Petr Yan was competitive but it was heading in a direction that might have kept Sterling out of the title picture for a long time.