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Aljamain Sterling has warned UFC bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, that he will take the Russian down and maul him on the ground just like Khabib Nurmagomedov does to his opponents.
Sterling and Yan are scheduled to fight each other for the much-coveted bantamweight title at UFC 259 on March 6. Ahead of the fight, both fighters engaged in a verbal back and forth on social media. Petr Yan recently took to Twitter to claim that he will put Sterling 'to sleep' at UFC 259.
“Hey, big mouth @funkmasterMMA why you went quiet recently? Don’t worry I’m not gonna beat you up too hard. I will put you to sleep nicely, you won’t even realize what happened! And your friend Merab can get the same treatment from my bro Denis Lavrentyev on the same night too”
In response, the 'Funkmaster' said that he will take Yan down during the fight and dominate him on the ground as Nurmagomedov does to his opponents inside the octagon. Sterling also took a jibe at Petr Yan for pulling out of the initial date their title fight was scheduled for, in December last year.
“Gonna Khabib you soOoOooo bad!! LOLOLOLOL. Oh by the way, why’d you pull out the fight, Pull-Out Pete?”
A look at Petr Yan and Aljamain's journey thus far
Petr Yan is undefeated in his last 10 fights and is undefeated inside the octagon since joining back in 2018. Yan is on a seven-fight win streak in the UFC and four of those wins came via knockout.
Former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo retired following his win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, leaving the title vacant. At UFC 251, Petr Yan fought former featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the vacant title. After a back and forth fight, Yan knocked out the Brazilian in the fifth and final round, becoming the new king of the 135 lbs division.
Aljamain Sterling is on an impressive five-fight winning streak inside the octagon. In his last fight, Sterling overcame top contender Cory Sandhagen with an incredible first-round submission victory at UFC 250 in June.
