Petr Yan doesn’t seem to have much patience for Jon Jones, after the former light heavyweight champion commented on Yan’s illegal knee injury that cost him the UFC 259 cock title.
This was not how Yan wanted to make history last weekend. An illegal knee left Aljamain Sterling unable to continue, marking the first time a fighter was defeated in a UFC title fight. Yan appeared to be on his way to victory, but was disqualified after the infraction at the end of the 4th round. All this leaving Sterling to be crowned the new bantamweight champion.
Jones congratulated Sterling on the victory and said that the end of the fight was not his fault.
“Aljamain came in great shape, he fought every second of that fight, it is not his fault that he got a knee illegally,” wrote Jones. “Congratulations champion, you made it.”
This led to a response from ‘No Mercy’, which said Smith should have done the same thing as Sterling.
“Anthony Smith should have chosen his title,” wrote Yan.
Yan’s answer almost certainly refers to Jones’ fight with Anthony Smith at UFC 235 in 2019. Jones dominated the entire fight, but was deducted two points for an illegal knee in the fourth round. Smith was able to continue and Jones won by unanimous decision to defend his light heavyweight title.
Sterling has since received criticism of the fight, with even some other fighters arguing that he pretended to be unable to continue after the knee. Yan opened as a big favorite before a potential rematch.