Chael Sonnen says Aljamain Sterling purposefully “gave away” rounds at UFC 273 against Petr Yan: “He could have won all five”

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen has given his take on Aljamain Sterling’s victory over Petr Yan at UFC 273.

Last weekend, ‘Funk Master’ and ‘No Mercy’ collided for the first time since their controversial March 2021 disqualification. With the victory, Sterling became the first-ever fighter to win a title via DQ at UFC 259.

They rematched at UFC 273 last Saturday night. Despite coming in as a huge underdog, Aljamain Sterling dominated the first few rounds of the contest. After a close first frame, he then battered Yan on the mat for the next two.

The following two rounds were all Petr Yan. However, by that point, it was too late. Sterling retained his UFC bantamweight championship via split decision. The win itself was quite controversial, as many fans believed that the Russian should’ve gotten the nod.

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen has now given his take on the fight on YouTube. In addition to believing that Aljamain Sterling won the fight cleanly, he believed he could’ve done more.

‘The Bad Guy’ opined that after getting the first three rounds in the bag, the champion took his foot off the gas. He also questioned if Sterling was truly at 100% for the bout, seeing as how he is coming off a bad neck injury last year.

(via Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

“I’m not certain that anything is going to be harder than he just did, and I’m not sure he was at his best. I’m really not. I think you’d have a tough time convincing me that Sterling was at his best when we all agree he gave two rounds away, of a five-round fight. If he wanted to win all five, it looked like he could’ve. That’s kind of what it looked like, as a matter of fact.”

Sonnen continued, “Yan even did everything right. Yan was fast, he was hungry, Yan gave up on absolutely zero positions. He changed strategy from round one to round four, he made adjustments. Sterling was just that damn good.”

Do you agree with the comments from Chael Sonnen about Aljamain Sterling?