Petr Yan’s top American team coach, Marcos DaMatta, is a little puzzled by Aljamain Sterling’s memory of what UFC 259 is all about.
Sterling claimed the UFC bantamweight title from Yan last Saturday after Yan was disqualified for landing a clear illegal knee in the head in the fourth round of the fight. The disqualification was decided after Sterling told the referee and the cage doctor that he could not continue.
Sterling became the first fighter in UFC history to win a DQ title. He has been heavily criticized online by fans and fighters who claim that Sterling is faking the effect of the knee.
Sterling pulled back criticism on his own podcast, saying he didn’t want to win as well as he did, and also shared some details about his mood during the incident.
“I remember asking, ‘How long do I have? “Because I wanted to continue,” Sterling said. “Right now, I’m thinking about a lot of things in my head: Dana (White’s) won’t give me another blow to the title, the fight will be a no-holds-barred contest, Dana will say,” He was losing that fight in the round. fourth, so why use it again? We already know the direction of the fight, so we’ll get out of here. Then I will never have the opportunity again. I will have to win three or four more fights to return to this position for a world title again. ”
Coach DaMatta questions Sterling’s memory of the illegal knee, as it is hard for him to believe that a fighter who is affected by the blow could think of all the things Sterling mentioned.
“Wait a second. If you have a concussion, if you can’t keep fighting, are you really thinking about all this inside the cage?” DaMatta said. “I mean, that got me confused. I don’t know if Aljo was thinking about all this. “inside the cage when he was still down or now he was thinking about it. Again, I respect Aljo and his coaches. I went to his corner and apologized because I know Petr made a mistake and I don’t deny it.” “But wait, what’s the truth? Did you really think about all this inside the cage or after that? I don’t know. It’s all about reserving revenge soon.”
DaMatta would not say one way or another if Sterling would fake the knee effect and said that Sterling is the only one who will ever know. The ATT coach wants the rematch to be booked as soon as possible and considers it ridiculous that Sterling suggested a fight with former retired champion Henry Cejudo on Twitter.
“I saw the Cejudo thing. It’s crazy, “said DaMatta. “The fight now is revenge. Cejudo, Sandhagen and everyone else have to wait. The right fight now is revenge and hopefully it will take place in May.
“I hope the UFC will book this fight soon. Even Aljo said he didn’t want to be a champion like that. Nobody wants that. Petr actually admitted the mistake. He apologized. He knows he was wrong. He apologized to Aljo, his coach and everyone, but the truth is that we want revenge as soon as possible.
“Dana said Aljo was allowed to leave. Aljo said he wanted revenge. Petr said he wants revenge, so I don’t know if there will be a hold up, hopefully not. Maybe in May or June at the latest. I think May will be a perfect timeline. “