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Aljamain Sterling exited UFC 259 as the new Bantamweight Champion following a controversial end to his fight with Petr Yan. The Funkmaster secured a fourth-round disqualification victory to be crowned as the new king of the 135-pound division. Now, after winning the title, Sterling seems to be looking past a rematch with Petr Yan in exchange for a super fight with Henry Cejudo.
Fighting on the main card at UFC 259, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan were slated to square off for the Bantamweight championship. However, the fight ended in gruesome fashion.
What happened to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259?
Exercising control for most of the fight, Petr Yan seemed to be landing his strikes freely, and at will. However, a costly mistake in the fourth-round stripped him of his title. Finding Aljamain Sterling on the ground, the Russian threw a vicious knee that left the Funkmaster concussed and unable to continue the fight.
Following the incident, referee Mark Smith brought in the octagon-side physician to take a look at Sterling. The referee was then left with no choice but to stop the bout, citing Aljamain Sterling's inability to continue fighting. The Jamaican-American had the following to say after his bizarre victory.
“Everything I worked for to this point and to have the fight go like that. I thought the fight was very close. I thought I was down two rounds. That’s not the way I wanted to win. That’s not the way I envisioned this.I just took the f**ing belt off. I was trying to continue even being all f**ked up like that. I was in bad shape. It would have just been ego taking over. It’s f**king bullsh*t,” said Sterling.
While the MMA community seems to have found the disqualification fair, they are yet to accept Aljamain Sterling as the 'real' champ. This, however, has not affected the Funkmaster as he now eyes a potential money fight against former UFC double champion, Henry Cejudo.
Aljamain Sterling tweeted the following from his official account and said that he would like to fight Triple C next and urged UFC President Dana White to make it happen.
"All that talking stops when face to face! We can do this fight next instead! .@danawhite," said Sterling.
Following Triple C's retirement from the sport, many felt that he will only return for a fight against current UFC Featherweight Champion, Alexander Volkanovski.
It will be interesting to see Cejudo's response to this call-out from the new Bantamweight Champion.
Do you think Henry Cejudo will return to fight Aljamain Sterling? Leave us with your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below!
