Aljamain Sterling Silences The Haters, Grinds Out A Win Over Petr Yan In The Rematch

Aljamain Sterling came into UFC 273 tonight with seemingly EVERYONE against him - and after that fight and post-fight interview, they may still be against him - but at least he has a REAL win over Petr Yan now. That's gotta feel AMAZING.

Sterling and Yan started the fight in a bit of a feeling-out process, which made the first round incredibly hard to score, and it wound up all coming down to that first round in the end! Aljamain Sterling went on to attach himself to the back of Petr Yan for the next two rounds, controlling him via body triangle and not doing much else, and then Yan finished strong and won the final couple rounds of the fight. It wasn't flashy and exciting like Khamzat/Burns right before it, but it was a technical battle between two of the best in the world at 135lbs that only got more entertaining as it went along.

Unfortunately, the split decision didn't go our way and busted the Spinnin Backfist parlay for the first time EVER, which is brutal, but hey - we were up +13.05 units playing with house money. Hard to predict a -480 favorite struggling as much as Yan did.

I'm honestly really happy for Aljamain Sterling, though - after all the shit he's had to put up with from MMA fans and fighters alike over the past year, he deserved that moment. I hope he rubs it in every face he can, too - embrace that heel role and become the champ fans want to see lose every PPV. I'll be cheering him on in every fight (and would've been rooting for him tonight if not for the damn parlay!) from here on out. Watching MMA Twitter burn down over this is hilarious.