Aljamain Sterling doesn’t understand why Petr Yan is getting “rewarded with a rematch”

Aljamain Sterling doesn’t understand why Petr Yan is getting a rematch.

At UFC 259, Sterling fought Yan for the bantamweight title and it was a high-action fight. However, entering the championship rounds, Yan was starting to take over but in the fourth round, Yan landed an illegal knee and the fight was over and Sterling became the new champ by DQ.

After the event, Dana White made it very clear Sterling and Yan were going to have an immediate rematch. Yet for Sterling, he says he doesn’t understand why the Russian is getting rewarded for doing an illegal move.

“Any other sport when you do something intentionally illegal you get suspended, you get fined, you get ejected from the game. This guy is getting rewarded with a rematch, which I get is a big fight,” Sterling said at a UFC 260 media scrum. “But, it is like, we can just break the rules and nothing is ever going to happen to us. I can just jump the Octagon and nothing is going to happen, I can go and fight another corner or push him after the bell and nothing is ever going to happen. It’s like, I feel like when you have rules for a reason and you have to enforce them or otherwise let’s just run it up.”

Although Aljamain Sterling isn’t sure why Petr Yan should get a rematch, there is no question the fight has to be next. It is a massive scrap and with the top bantamweight contenders fighting in May, this title rematch needs to happen sometime this year.

Prior to the fight with Yan, Sterling had a five-fight winning streak with wins over Cory Sandhagen, Pedro Munhoz, Jimmie Rivera, Cody Stamann, and Brett Johns.

Do you think Petr Yan should get an immediate rematch against Aljamain Sterling?