LAS VEGAS – Aljamain Sterling took the UFC belt from his waist and dropped it on the octagon rug with a thump. Sterling then knelt and leaned his head against the screen.
It was not the behavior of someone who had just fulfilled the dream of becoming a UFC champion. But those were the extremely bizarre circumstances of the UFC bantamweight title fight on Saturday at UFC 259.
Sterling won the title by disqualification in the fourth minute, 29 seconds of the fourth round, after Yan hit Sterling in the head with an illegal knee. The ring doctor determined that Sterling, visibly shaken by the knee, could not continue fighting. Referee Mark Smith decided the intentional foul, making the result a disqualification.
What made the sequence even stranger is that Yan was in complete control of the fight. He was starting to choose Sterling in the third and fourth rounds with technical boxing. Sterling, who worked hard to pick up the pace and make Yan uncomfortable, seemed to be running out of steam as Yan arrived in the last few rounds.
Sterling had a strong start to the fight. He landed two knees to Yan’s head in the first round. Yan recovered at the end of the first, knocking Sterling off with his left hand.
Sterling continued to press in the second, but Yan was perplexed. He stuffed almost every attempt at Sterling’s fall and was proficient at the clinch.
Yan hit a few hard left and right hands in the fourth round, leading to an unparalleled finish.
The judges had Yan ahead by 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 going into the fourth, a Yan round was winning convincingly before the illegal knee.
Yan and Sterling reached the rankings 1 and 2, respectively, in the ESPN MMA bantamweight ranking. UFC 259 took place with coronavirus protocols in place at UFC Apex, an installation in front of the UFC corporate campus.
Sterling (20-3) has now won six consecutive games. The New York native, who made his training camp at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, came from a submission victory in the first round over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 last June. Sterling, 31, has a UFC record of 12-3.
Yan (15-2) won the vacant UFC cock title by defeating Jose Aldo at UFC 251 last July. The Russian has won 10 consecutive matches, including the first seven in the UFC. Yan, 28, normally trains in Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, but has moved his camp to the American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, this time due to travel inconveniences related to COVID-19.