Aljamain Sterling has a message for all his haters: shut up.
Last Saturday, Sterling successfully defended his bantamweight title against Petr Yan in their rematch at UFC 273. The win was particularly sweet for the champion, who spent the past year being angered by many fans for winning the title via disqualification in his first fight to become Jan at UFC 259.
Now, with the specter of the DQ controversy not hovering over this title win, The Funk Master enjoys his I Told You So moment.
“It feels great,” Sterling told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “It feels good to know that I’ve been absolutely right in everything I’ve said since we first fought. What I said, the reason I had an evening off was because of the way I felt, and I wasn’t a bulls*****.
“People can say it’s a stupid excuse, and it is. I know it’s a stupid excuse, I know I sound stupid saying it out loud, but it’s the truth and that’s exactly what happened. And I feel like I would have finished off Petr Yan in that first encounter that we had if I had been ready and hadn’t had those hiccups. Because that version of himself wasn’t as good as the guy I fought at UFC 273. That Petr Yan was a lot better, had a lot more discipline when it came to his defense and I felt like he was just better and I felt like I won comfortably, still. Two 10-8 rounds, I feel like I should have had two 10-8 rounds. I don’t know how you get four minutes of control time, ground and pound and submission attempts and that doesn’t fit the criteria they have implemented for 10-8 rounds.
“I’m just happy. I’m glad I was able to prove my team right, proved myself right and had to go with Vegas and let these guys suck it. And that’s really it. People want to be spiteful and about yours Talking family, talking about all that stuff, calling me a monkey, dropping the N-bomb, a whole lot of shit, I’ve been involved with a lot and it’s a good thing I have a thick skin because a lot of people would probably have that broken, but not this guy. This guy came prepared, ready to fight, and I came ready to win.”
Although Sterling argued strongly that he deserved at least a 10-8 round in the fight, none of the judges for the event granted him one. In the end, that didn’t matter as Sterling still won the first three rounds on two judges’ scorecards. And according to the champion, it was only that close because he took his foot off the gas on laps four and five.
“Once I had that, I figured I’m three laps up, if I want to pull out the next two laps I can,” Sterling said. “And frankly, that’s what happened. … If I wanted to get up in that fourth round, I could have got up. But I started playing jiu-jitsu and honestly it’s one of those things I do way too much in the gym. I’m so comfortable sending guys off my back looking for scrambles – he was three laps behind and I think he knew he was going to take one so I accepted that position so I could just hang out. If I wanted to get up, I could have. … I could have gotten back up and not given him a chance to even score a round in that fight and I gave that round away and he started to build momentum … it is what it is. I fought a great fight, I think I fought a smart fight. I gave away two rounds that I could easily have fought very, very differently or the same [as the first three rounds], because fuel tank was not an issue. But anyway, it was a fun fight, people got excited because they thought there would be moments where they would “get me” and it is what it is. I shut up everyone. I’m the undisputed, the only king in this bantamweight class right now. “
But while that victory was more definitive than Sterling and Yan’s original title fight at UFC 259, that doesn’t mean it was entirely uncontroversial. After the fight, Yan argued that he should have won, a claim echoed by some in the MMA community including UFC President Dana White and former UFC referee-turned Bellator commentator John McCarthy.
The deciding round for the fight is the opening stanza where Sterling passed Yan in significant shots at 19-13, but Yan was the one who came forward. Sterling argues that the judging criteria here are crystal clear and that anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
“Come on! Can you both throw less than 20 strikes, a guy 5-7 strikes less depending on if you count some of the strikes that shrugged off your shoulder as a win?” Sterling said. “How can you win by you go forward with a mean face and throw 5-7 fewer shots than your opponent because you ran forward and trained in footwork how do you win a round with that people can talk about aggression what they will – Aggression don’t suck if you don’t cut me down and land strikes and do what you want If you fight my fight and do what I want you to do which is chase me around and get shot and take clean shots then you know I don’t know what to tell you You don’t know how to score a fight.
“The rule book, according to the criteria, you do damage, effective hitting, and my hitting was more effective, and I controlled and dictated where the fight was throughout the round. So I think it’s pretty black and white. And let’s not even talk about the elbow I hit him in the head with that made him stumble backwards, that was the most significant punch of the round. People who say robbery what is a robbery? I don’t even know what a robbery is anymore. … Everything is a robbery because your guy didn’t win the round.
“There is absolutely no way to score this round – big dumb John McCarthy voice. Dude, go find a clue. I don’t know how this guy ever became MMA’s blueprint standard because this guy sucks. His opinion stinks and it sucks. He just says shit and I think he just wants people to think he knows what he’s talking about. I think he had an MMA school, I think he had fighters, who of them ever did anything? What has his school ever done? Because this guy is clearly so awesome so what has he ever accomplished other than trying to judge people and being completely wrong about the fight judging criteria.
“If you want an opinion, have an opinion, John. It’s okay, but it doesn’t mean you’re right because you don’t follow the criteria for how you score a fight. So please be quiet and let the big boys do what they do at a high level, something you could never achieve. Relax there, mate.”