Former bantamweight champion Petr Yan believes he shouldn’t have been the first champion to lose his belt by disqualification and called out Jon Jones for not losing his belt to Anthony Smith in the same fashion.
The conclusion of the bantamweight title fight between Yan and Aljamain Sterling was very messy. After a back-and-forth war that saw Petr Yan getting the better of Sterling on the feet, the Russian found himself in a precarious situation. While Sterling was grounded, Yan landed a devastating knee to Sterling’s face in the fourth round, resulting in an immediate stop to the action by referee Mark Smith.
According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s unified rules, a grounded opponent is defined by a fighter who must have both hands, palms and/or fists down on the ground in order to be considered grounded, and also if a knee or anything other than the soles of the feet is are also touching the ground they are considered grounded. If a fighter is considered grounded, then a knee or kick to the head is illegal and actions by the referee can be taken.
Petr Yan And Jon Jones Trade Barbs
Following the title loss, Jones reacted on social media about the unfortunate incident and congratulated Sterling.
“Aljamain came in great shape, he fought forward every second of that fight, not his fault he got illegally kneed,” Jones wrote. “Congratulations champion, you did it.”
While the message appeared to be harmless, Petr Yan took issue with the former light heavyweight champion’s comments. It appears the Russian boxer believes that Jones should have lost his title by disqualification too when he fought Smith in March of 2019.
“Anthony Smith should have taken your title,” Yan said in response.
In his 2019 bout with Smith, “Bones” also threw an illegal knee which could have resulted in the loss of his title. However, Smith lived up to his “Lionheart” nickname when he continued the fight despite losing a lopsided unanimous decision.
Do you agree with the former champion Petr Yan, should Jones have been disqualified from his fight with Smith? Let us know below what you think!
