Aljamain Sterling Wins UFC Bantamweight Title After Petr Yan DQ on Illegal Knee

Aljamain Sterling is the new UFC bantamweight champion with a disqualification win over Petr Yan in the fourth round of their main card fight on UFC 259 from the Apex facility in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Yan appeared to be on his way to winning the fight and defending his belt when he kneed Sterling, who was clearly on the ground.

Sterling couldn't have asked for a better start to the fight. He came out early as the aggressor and had Yan on the defensive. A flying knee that landed to Yan's head set up his first takedown of the evening. However, the 28-year-old worked his way to the feet and knocked his opponent down with a well-placed right hand. 

Funk Master went with the much more predictable game plan of hunting a takedown in Round 2. He was mostly unsuccessful but it forced Yan to spend the bulk of the five-minute frame keeping Aljo from taking him down. 

The third round is where Yan's patience began paying dividends. He opened up his attack more and landed some takedowns along with clean punches and clearly took any momentum Sterling may have had. 

Yan was well on his way to cruising through the championship rounds when he committed a nasty foul. Sterling was clearly down when Yan unleashed a knee to the head that ended the fight and resulted in his disqualification. 

Sterling's coronation is the latest in a turbulent time for the bantamweight championship. The belt has proved to be slippery in recent years. No one has ever defended it more than twice, and it hasn't been defended twice since 2015.

Henry Cejudo abandoned the title in 2019 when he retired from the sport, leaving the UFC to set up a title fight between Yan and former featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Sterling was passed over for the opportunity despite a four-fight winning streak. He responded by registering a surprise submission over fellow top contender Cory Sandhagen.

Now, Sterling's work to develop over his time in the UFC has been rewarded with a championship run. He isn't short on confidence either. Sterling has compared his game to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has also employed his grappling to ruin opponents' nights.

"At the end of the day, I'm going to take him down and smash him and that's really it," Sterling told Damon Martin of MMA Fighting. "Not to rip off Khabib, but I've been doing it just as long. Khabib might have done it better, people might know him a little bit more for it but I'm just as good in that position. I like to think that I am the Khabib of my division."

Winning the belt this way is certainly not the kind of thing that will put him in Nurmagomedov territory. These two are likely going to have to run it back again, as Yan was in a great position to win the fight before making a terrible decision.