Aljamain Sterling claps back at John McCarthy for suggesting there is “no way” he won Round 1 against Petr Yan

The UFC 273 co-main event between Aljamain Sterling (21-3 MMA) and Petr Yan (16-3 MMA) took place this past weekend in Jacksonville, Florida. It was Sterling who succeeded in defending his bantamweight belt by defeating Yan with a split decision victory.

John McCarthy, a retired referee who currently hosts the MMA and combat sports podcast ‘Weighing In’ with Josh Thomson, recently spoke about Sterling’s fight saying:

“There is no way in the world you’re gonna tell me that Aljo (Sterling) won that first round, but I will say, I thought he fought a great fight.”

Following the title bout there has been a lot of controversy concerning the judges decision to award the prize to Sterling. There are fans and media alike who have spoken out about the outcome of the fight, debating whether it should have been Petr Yan awarded the victory.

Image Credit: UFC

Aljamain Sterling apparently took notice of John’s comments and has spoken out on the MMA Hour, saying:

“There is absolutely no way you could score that round like ‘Big’ John McCarthy. Dude, go get a clue. I don’t know how this guy was ever the blueprint standard of the MMA. Cause that guy s*cks, his opinion stinks and it s*cks. He just says sh*t. And I think he just wants people to think that he knows what he’s talking about.”

Continuing to talk about ‘Big’ John, Aljamain Sterling said:

“I think he had an MMA school. I think he had fighters. Which one of them ever did anything? What did his school ever do? Clearly this guy is so great – so what has he ever accomplished? Other than trying to judge people and being completely wrong about the scoring criteria of the fight. If you want to have an opinion John, it’s ok, but it doesn’t mean you’re correct because you’re not going by the criteria of how you score a fight. So please be quiet and let the big boys do what they do at a high level. Relax there buddy.”

Ok Aljamain Sterling, tell us how you really feel? Obviously ‘Funk Master’ is defending his win – and a win it was – he still has the bantamweight belt.

Do you agree with Sterling’s comments about ‘Big’ John? Do you agree that it was the right decision by the judges to award the win to Sterling?