Aljamain Sterling is still not done laying into UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan for pulling out of their scheduled fight on December 12.
It has now been confirmed for weeks that Petr Yan will be defending his bantamweight championship against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 on March 6, but whenever the subject is brought up of Yan’s decision to pull out of their originally scheduled bout for December 12, Sterling can’t help but vent.
At first, Sterling was left to throw out hypotheses for why Yan pulled out. He wondered if it had something to do with PED usage or if Yan simply felt he needed more time to prepare for Sterling. The Funkmaster sleuth feels that he can now close the case and that it was the latter scenario.
“I feel super-prepared. I was prepared before for September 12,” Sterling said in an impromptu appearance on The Schmozone recently. “Things got pushed back. Yan felt inadequate for his training.
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“It turns out, the thing is I guess his manager, Danny Rubenstein ended up saying and kind of vocalizing, which was he didn’t have the right training partners to emulate me or ‘mimic me.’ I don’t know how much of that he can actually find, but I don’t think he’s gonna be able to find anybody who can do the stuff that I can do. I mean, he can try…
Sterling Believes Compensation For Yan’s Pull-Out Is Not Unreasonable
Although Aljamain Sterling expressed confidence that his new date with Petr Yan will proceed as scheduled this time around, he still feels that Yan should either be disciplined for his unprofessionalism or he should be compensated for holding up his end of the original bargain.
“He gave himself a couple extra months to get ready,” Sterling said. “My thing is if you sign a contract for a fight, it’s kind of like saying, ‘I’m ready at this date, this time. And to kind of pull out of the fight, not give the specific reason, and leave the fans kind of let down, I think something should be said about that. And I almost feel like I should have been compensated for that to be honest. I mean, I was ready to show up. He wasn’t. I should get something for that.”
The only time the public has been made aware of a fighter being compensated for an opponent being unable to make a fight is if the fighter had to suddenly be removed on fight week, such as for weight-cutting issues. If Sterling’s suggestion were to actually happen, it would undoubtedly set a historic precedent for fight pull-outs that happen without sufficient explanation.
Do you believe that Aljamain Sterling has a legitimate gripe against Petr Yan and/or that he should be compensated for Yan pulling out of UFC 256?
