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Petr Yan shared a video of Aljamain Sterling seemingly hitting him with an illegal strike in their first fight. The footage appears to be from the opening round, where Sterling can be seen landing a strike on the back of Yan's head.
'No Mercy' labeled Sterling a hypocrite, alluding to ' The Funk Master's' DQ title victory. Yan wrote in the caption:
"Hypocritical b**ch"
Check out the tweet below:
Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling clashed for the first time at UFC 259 last year with the Russian's bantamweight title on the line. Yan was leading on two scorecards when he landed an illegal knee in the fourth frame on his downed opponent despite the referee's warnings.
Sterling was deemed unfit to continue and secured the title via a disqualification victory, becoming the first in UFC history to do so. While 'Funk Master' was on the sidelines for a while due to neck surgery, Yan went on to win the interim title against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267. 'No Mercy' will now meet Sterling in a bantamweight title unifier at the UFC 273 co-headliner this weekend.
Petr Yan claims Aljamain Sterling will be forgotten after Saturday night
While Petr Yan issued an apology to Aljamain Sterling in the immediate aftermath of their first bout, he later went on to question 'The Funk Master's' legitimacy as champion. In response, Sterling came up with the 'rulebook for dummies', mocking Yan's catastrophic mistake.
However, the Russian believes Sterling is just a "clown" who will be forgotten after their rematch this weekend. Yan is also confident that the grappling wizard won't be able to secure takedowns against him. The 27-year old said on The MMA Hour:
"Just imagine, he’s tired of thinking about me, and I didn’t even think about him at all. He had this long layoff, I had a different opponent. I fought, and now he’s my next target that I’m gonna beat up. After the fight Saturday night, everybody is gonna forget about him. That clown will be forgotten... I think he [won’t] be able to do it; I think he wouldn’t be able to take me down. The stuff he said, it’s just gonna stay in his head, it’s gonna stay his dream. He’s a clown."
Watch Yan's interview with Ariel Helwani below:
