Valentina Shevchenko reacts to Petr Yan losing his title after illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling

Petr Yan lost his UFC bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling after being disqualified due to an illegal strike at UFC 259. Petr Yan was winning the fight on two scorecards when he surprised fans by landing an illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling in the fourth round.

UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has recently weighed in on Petr Yan's loss. Shevchenko revealed that she believed the foul wasn't intentional and happened due to an error in judgement.Empathizing with Petr Yan, Valentina Shevchenko told James Lynch in an interview:

"Oh , it’s that situation. It’s so sad and I really understand what kind of frustration Petr Yan now is feeling. Because he was winning the fight clearly and went for total domination. And this knee, it’s really frustrating but it’s hard to blame someone. It’s hard to blame Petr because I really don’t think that it was on purpose. I think it was just an intentional kick, a head kick. And really you know, I totally understand that he says that he was focusing so much on his hands. Because before the fight he have to be with referee and he is like, ‘Okay, you take, that if one hand here, one’s there….’ And you start to really focus about hands and you forget about legs."

Valentina Shevchenko thinks Petr Yan deserves a rematch

The doctor has called off the fight after speaking to Aljamain Sterling, who was struck with an illegal knee by Petr Yan at #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/oRLduQfraV

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 7, 2021

Valentina Shevchenko was emphatic about Petr Yan winning the fight before its tragic conclusion. According to Shevchenko, there needs to be a rematch to clear up the confusion regarding the controversial bantamweight title situation. Suggesting a revenge match, Valentina Shevchenko added:

"And when I was watching it live, we had UFC watch party in the house. And it’s kind of like in that position it’s kind of hard to see is he one knee down or like both knees up. And this motion, when Aljamain (Sterling) started to lift up, this is why he (Petr Yan) thought that this is a moment he is actually lifting up, standing up, and he went like boom. And it’s like that situation, there has to be another fight, like revenge. And at this fight let’s see how it’s gonna be. Because it’s controversial now that who is the champion. Because we could see clearly that Petr was winning the fight."