JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite the intense build-up, Petr Yan doesn’t think Aljamain Sterling ultimately will stack up as one of his biggest rivals.
Yan (16-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC), the bantamweight interim champion, will look to unify the title with champ Sterling in Saturday’s UFC 273 co-main event at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. Yan wants to rectify his wrong from their first outing in March 2021 when he was disqualified for striking Sterling (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) with an illegal knee. Although the storyline is there and their rivalry continues to intensify, Yan finds it hard to rate Sterling as a top rival competitively.
“Let’s wait until Saturday and see if he’s really a worthy rival or not,” Yan told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s UFC 273 media day. “I’ll have a long career ahead, and I believe I’m gonna have a lot more worthy rivals. And I think right now the way he behaves, he doesn’t behave like a worthy rival or like a man.”
He continued, “I can’t say it’s personal, but it’s very important for me to beat him up and show who he truly is. In UFC history, there is no one who won a belt that way, but he still thinks he’s a champion. It’s absurd.”
Should Yan beat Sterling, they would be tied at one-a-piece through two fights. However, Yan thinks a win would close his chapter with Sterling.
“I don’t think there’s a need for a trilogy,” Yan said. “I believe I beat him in the first fight, too. It’s just things happen.”
