Dana White thinks that Aljamain Sterling may have gotten away with one again.
Sterling won over Petr Yan in Saturday’s rematch at UFC 273, Jacksonville, Fla. The split decision was made after five rounds of competition to unify Yan’s interim title and his undisputed bantamweight championship. The win officially put Sterling up 2-0 in their series, with “Funk Master” having become champion at UFC 259 in March of last year when Yan was disqualified for hitting a downed Sterling with an illegal knee.
Their second fight saw less controversy, but there was plenty of questioning from media and fans about the scoring. At the evening’s post-fight presser, White stated clearly that he didn’t agree with the judges’ decision.
“I thought that the judges blew that one,” White said. “I had it 3-2 the other way. It’s not clear how the other guys did it. I guess it’s all in how you score that first round.”
According to the official scorecards, Round 1 was indeed the decider with judges Sal D’Amato and Eliseo Rodriguez scoring 10-9 for Sterling and judge Chris Lee scoring it 10-9 for Yan. No 10-8s were rewarded for any round, despite Sterling being in back control for almost the entirety of Round 2 while threatening with submissions and strikes.
Yan called for Sterling to rematch the fight after his interview. After defeating Cory Sandhagen in UFC 267, Yan entered Saturday as interim UFC bantamweight champion. He was also the one who claimed that vacant belt.
It’s likely that Yan will have to wait for a third shot at Sterling, especially considering the depth of the 135-pound roster. Two-time champion T.J. Dillashaw was in attendance at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and earlier in the evening he stated that he would prefer a title fight against Yan.
White would like to see the Sterling-Yan trilogy put on the backburner for now, with Dillashaw waiting in the wings.
“Listen! That [third Sterling-Yan] fight’s going to be there,” White stated. “Petr Yan is one of the baddest dudes in that division. Most likely, you will do the T.J. fight .”
