“It’s Kind of Crazy”: Aljamain Sterling Pushes Back on Petr Yan Being Called the Bantamweight GOAT

Petr Yan defeated Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi in his first bantamweight title defense. With this win, many fans and critics are ranking him among the division’s GOATs. However, Aljamain Sterling, who has won twice against the Russian, doesn’t fit under this bracket. 

Aljamain Sterling Doesn’t Consider Petr Yan the GOAT

In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Aljamain Sterling pointed toward Petr Yan’s resume as the reason he doesn’t consider him a GOAT. 

The Russian has held the bantamweight belt twice but has only one title defense to his name. As a result, Sterling said he is not in the mix with Dominick Cruz, TJ Dillashaw, and Merab Dvalishvili. 

“From a technical standpoint, if you want to say his technique is really, really good, and he’s a dog when he’s in there, I 100% agree. I’m not going to dismiss that. I’m not going to deny that greatness. He’s a technical savage when he’s in there,” Sterling said.

“He’s definitely in the mix. He’s in the conversation with the Dominick Cruzes, the Merabs, TJ Dillashaw. But to just go, hands down, he’s the GOAT with one title defense, it’s kind of crazy. One title defense, I don’t know if that does it for me, but he’s definitely in the conversation,” Sterling added. 

Sterling Questions Yan vs. Dvalishvili 3’s Scoring

Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili had split their previous two fights, leaving their head-to-head record at 1-1. In their third meeting, Dvalishvili started strong, winning the opening two rounds.

Although he started the third round similarly, the Georgian was caught by a liver kick that appeared to slow him down.

However, Sterling believes Dvalishvili had done enough to make the third round competitive and that a 10-10 score would have been fairer.

“Damage should score. But what happened to all the other damage? It was a great fight, a coin flip of a round for round three. I would have liked to see it go 10–10, but that’s never going to happen. And then the fight ends in a draw. Of course, Petr Yan ended the fight strong. Kudos to him. You could say the fight was trending in Petr Yan’s way. I agree. But that’s the way the decision went, and unfortunately, we came up short,” Sterling said.

Had the third round been scored 10-10, the fight could have ended in a draw, potentially improving Dvalishvili’s chances of securing a fourth fight against Yan. However, the liver kick appeared to shift the momentum in Yan’s favour.