I had a small feeling that this fight would be a lot closer than the first time around and that certainly played out Saturday. Obviously, it is on record that I picked Yan to win, but I do consider myself an Aljamain Sterling fan to some degree. Even though I really didn't like the way he went about dealing with the heat he got from the way he won the title, it felt good to see him get a win and silence a lot of that for the time being. Some people, including Dana White, seem to think that 48-47 Aljo was the wrong decision and I truly don't understand that line of thinking. It seemed to me in real time that Sterling had won the first three rounds and two of the judges felt the same way. Yan just didn't really do much of anything in that first round. He was the one moving forward, but without landing strikes, that really doesn't mean a whole lot. He was out struck in that round by Aljo and I think it was at least reasonable, if not clear that he lost it. There was also a case for a 10-8 round in favor of Sterling in the second where he got all of the back control time and landed some really nice ground and pound. I didn't think it quite crossed into 10-8 territory, but it at least got into consideration for a second. If nothing else, we got a really good fight from the two who have seemed to separate themselves at the top of the bantamweight division. I wouldn't be surprised if we look up and see these two fighting again at some point before it is all said and done for the both of them.
Aljamain Sterling largely did exactly what he needed to do to win. He had to get off to a fast start because we knew Yan would be able to come on late and probably take those last couple of rounds. That is exactly what happened. Yan starts slow and Aljo was able to use his volume striking to win the first round. His kicks were a good weapon for him, which isn't abnormal for a Sterling performance. His striking still isn't extremely technical and he doesn't have great power, but ultimately, he just needs to land shots with good volume and that is what he did. The second and third rounds is where he was able to get to his strengths and take Yan to the ground. He was able to get to his back as well and having Aljamain Sterling on your back is not what anyone wants. He wasn't able to really get any close attempts at the submissions, but he controlled Yan for long stretches in both of those rounds. He did lose the last two rounds when he couldn't get those takedowns, but he wasn't getting dominated like we saw in the first fight. That is due to the other huge improvement that Aljo made for this fight, which was his cardio. I said it in the preview, but I'll say it again here. He told the story that he was feeling off and didn't end up eating the day of the first fight, which is why he gassed so early. I have no reason to believe he's lying, but I think the problem really was that he started with such a high pace that he never would have been able to keep that up regardless. In this fight, he looked like he was in the best shape of his career and I'm sure he was more fueled and ready to go. He did a much better job of pacing though and I think that was huge. He didn't come out and throw 50, 60, 70+ strikes in the first round again. He was able to out strike Yan, but not empty the tank early. This allowed him to be more competitive later, even in the rounds he was losing. In the first fight, Aljo was probably going to be finished because he was so exhausted that he just couldn't stand up to any of Yan's strikes. Because he kept a better pace this time, he had the gas left in the tank to eat some heavy strikes in the fourth and fifth rounds. It was certainly a close fight, but I thought Aljo edged it out. Regardless, that was a tremendous performance for him and he'll be defending his championship again in the late summer or early fall I assume.
It seems pretty clear that whenever that fight is booked, that TJ Dillashaw will be the opponent. I'm not the biggest fan of his due to his PED past, but he seems to be guy and I don't really have a problem with it. He came back after two years away and beat Cory Sandhagen in an extremely close fight that I thought Sandhagen won, but so be it. Dillashaw is the former champion and he never lost his belt in the cage. He got the nod in what was assumed to be the number one contender fight and has earned his way back. The only other guy who is really even in the conversation is Jose Aldo. However, Aldo had his title shot against Yan after Henry Cejudo vacated the title not too long ago, so I don't know that the UFC is really looking to put Aldo in there again. They could make Aldo and Dillashaw fight it out, but I personally think TJ is safe and has the fight locked up. Aljo called him out after the fight as well, so, I don't see a reason not to make it. I think that is an extremely interesting and tough fight for both sides, so I'm ready to see it whenever Aljo is ready to get back at it. I think a number one contender fight featuring Aldo for the following title shot is more likely and more appealing, especially if it is with Dominick Cruz. There are a lot of potential challengers depending how some future fights shake out, so we'll see how everything looks in a few weeks after Font vs Vera. All of that is for down the line though, Dillashaw should and probably will get the next opportunity.
While he did lose, Petr Yan most certainly didn't fight poorly. He wasn't able to stop the takedowns with the same level of success that he did in the first fight, which is the main reason he lost. Aljo is an extremely high level wrestler, so there is no shame in hitting the mat a couple of times, but he compounded one mistake into multiple. Yan was so frantic in trying to not accept the grounded position, that he ended up giving his back. When he gave his back to try and stand up, Aljo was able to jump on it and then lock in the body triangle and maintain that position for both the second and third rounds. He gave his back again, I think in the fourth round, but Aljo ended up too high and slid off the top. That is ultimately what cost Yan the fight and is a tendency that he is going to have to correct. The other thing that cost Yan is his slow start. I know Yan's style and success is contingent on him getting those reads in the early going, but there has to be for him to get those reads without essentially sacrificing the first round in all of his fights. With his power advantage, he didn't even need to out strike Ajlo in pure numbers, but it just couldn't be so noticeable, but it was and that is why he lost that round, which would have swung the decision. The last two rounds were largely the Petr Yan that we have come to know. He was coming on strong and his striking was starting to take over. He wasn't doing so in the same way he has in the past because Aljo's cardio was in a much better place than in their first fight or when Yan defeated Jose Aldo. All of the other stuff looked good, but he gave away the first round because he didn't throw enough strikes and then got controlled for two full rounds. When you're fighting championship level fights and title eliminators, the margin is very thin and small things like that can make the difference in the decisions.
Petr Yan is in an interesting spot going forward. Normally, a fighter of his caliber wouldn't be more than a couple of wins away from returning to a title fight. However, Yan has technically lost twice to Aljo and the division has no shortage of contenders coming for the next shot. A lot of the top 5 who isn't currently booked has already fought Yan before and we know that the UFC doesn't typically like to book rematches in non-title fights, especially if the first fight was relatively recently. That probably takes Jose Aldo and Cory Sandhagen out of the equation. Sanhagen's last fight was Yan, so they're not going to have those two fight back to back. Had the Aldo vs Yan fight been more competitive, maybe that would have a chance, but Yan really took that fight over in a dominant way after the midpoint, so I don't think the UFC would have a ton of interest in that, at least right now. I, personally, think Aldo vs Dominick Cruz is the way to go there and with Sandhagen, I'm not really sure what the move is. I have two options for Yan, so whichever one Yan doesn't get, maybe that is what we see Sandhagen do. The first option is the winner of the main event a few weeks from now, which is Rob Font vs Marlon Vera. Font lost to Aldo his last time, but if he picks up a win, I think it is reasonable that he would make a solid opponent for Petr Yan. If Chito is able to get the win, then that would be the biggest win of his entire career and would be looking to make that last push for a title shot of his own. The other option for Yan is Merab Dvalishvili. I'm not sure why, but Merab hasn't fought in awhile and we haven't really heard his name very much. He was in Aljo's corner on Saturday, so it was at least good to see him. It is possible that he was recovering from an injury or just couldn't find a fight. Merab shouldn't be that far off from a title shot of his own, which will be interesting to see play out since he is teammates with Aljo. If it was my decision to make, I think I would go for Merab vs Yan and the Font/Chito winner against Sandhagen. Sandhagen has multiple losses in a row and doesn't need someone who is surging like Merab. Vera and Font both have losses in the somewhat recent past, so I think those matchups make a the most sense for everyone.
What do you guys think? How did you score the fight? What did you think of Aljamain Sterling's performance? Who should he make his next defense against? What about Petr Yan? Who should he fight next time out? Leave all of your thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
Comments
Post a Comment