Petr Yan confident he won Aljamain Sterling rematch, calls for trilogy bout

Petr Yan wants another chance to beat Aljamain Sterling.

In the co-main event of UFC 273 on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., Sterling defeated Yan by split decision to unify his undisputed title with Yan’s interim title. It was the second straight time that Sterling has beaten Yan in a championship bout following Sterling’s controversial disqualification win that took place at UFC 259 in March of last year.

Post-fight, Yan — now a former undisputed champion and a former interim champion — was asked for his thoughts on the judges’ decision and he answered that he believes he should be leaving the octagon with undisputed gold around his waist once more.

“I won this fight,” Yan said via a Russian translator. “I think I won this fight and I got robbed.”

According to the official scorecards, Round 1 was the disputed frame with all three judges scoring Rounds 2 and 3 for Sterling and Rounds 4 and 5 for Yan. Yan told interviewer Joe Rogan that he agreed that Round 1 was pivotal and that he won “three rounds out of five.”

Later speaking in English, Yan reiterated his belief that he won the fight (at one point, he appeared to misspeak and claim he won Round 2, which was Sterling’s most dominant round of the fight) while calling for a rematch with Sterling.

“I want rematch,” Yan said. “I want rematch. I win first round... fourth, fifth round, I win. I want a rematch.”