Aljamain Sterling Unifies Titles With Close Split Judging Win Over Petr Yan – UFC 273 Highlights

Aljamain Sterling

Clarity at 135lbs once again. Uniondale native, Aljamain Sterling successfully unifies the UFC bantamweight titles with a close, thin split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) victory over interim titleholder, Petr Yan in the co-main event of UFC 273.

Starting brightly against Dudinka native, Yan, Aljamain Sterling asserted a much more patient display against the interim titleholder — and managed to take the frame on the two of three judge’s scorecards, leading to his split judging victory.

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Turning in two dominant frames, particularly the second from then on out — Sterling took the back and amassed over three minutes of ground control against Yan in the second and third frames — landing two successful takedowns from a whopping 22 attempts over the course of five gruelling rounds.

Giving up the fourth and fifth frames to a reinvigorated Yan, Sterling managed to score a split decision victory over his champion counterpart — successfully unifying the bantamweight crowns, before calling for a title defense against former two-time division best, T.J. Dillashaw who was in attendance at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

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Claiming that he had landed round wins in one, two, four, and five — Yan called for a third fight with Sterlign in the immediate future off the back of his second UFC loss.

Below, catch the highlights from Aljamain Sterling’s successful title unification win against Petr Yan