“Rematch in 2024. Game of inches. I’ll be back!”,” the American wrote on the social network, referring to the bout with his compatriot.
“Deal!”,” the Russian commented on Sterling’s words.
In March 2021, Peter Yan lost his UFC flyweight championship belt due to a disqualification after misjudging Aljamain Sterling’s position and hitting him with a banned knee strike. After winning the interim title in a fight with Corey Sandhagen, the Russian fighter came out for a rematch with the champion, to whom he lost by split decision over five rounds. After that, Yan suffered two more defeats, losing by split decision to Sean O’Malley, and by unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili. At the moment, the Russian has no scheduled fight, and he himself said that he plans to return at the end of this year.
Aljamain Sterling made two more successful title defenses, defeating T.J. Dillashaw by TKO and Henry Cejudo by split decision before losing by TKO to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in Boston.
Note that the following phrase has become a meme among fans who mostly believe that Aljamain Sterling was faking in his first fight with Peter Yan:
“There is no greater damage than that done to the lightweight division for two years by Peter Yan with a knee strike.”