“I would not prefer to become a champion the way Aljamain Sterling did,” claims the former UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan
The newly crowned UFC Bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has constantly been in news since his controversial title win against Petr Yan at UFC 259. Now, Khabib Nurmagomedov also joined the list of people pointing fingers at ‘Funkmaster’ for winning the title in the wrong way.
Yan entered the Octagon to defend his title against Sterling at the combined co-main event of UFC 259. After dominating Sterling for four rounds, Yan landed an illegal knee in the fourth round of the fight.
This leads him to be disqualified from the fight and Sterling became the first-ever UFC fighter to win a title by DQ. Many people pointed fingers at Aljamain Sterling for faking the concussion to win the title and ‘The Eagle’ also believes he would never prefer to become the champion as Sterling did.
In his latest interview with UFC Russia, Khabib Nurmagomedov says, “Well, I would not prefer to become a champion the way Aljamain Sterling did. I think he understands it, and his people do, but they try to support him, and I understand them.”
“I would not like to be the champion who almost lost and won his belt just because his opponent broke the rules, I don’t want to judge anyone, but I would not want things to be this way.” {H/T MMA Mania}
Khabib Nurmagomedov backs Petr Yan to win the rematch
Aljamain Sterling is out since he won the title due to a neck injury and the promotion is targeting their rematch for October or November. Petr Yan is desperately waiting to win his title back and Khabib Nurmagomedov backs him for winning this rematch.
Nurmagomedov added, “Speaking about Yan, yes, he made a huge mistake — it cost him the belt, Anyway, if Petr properly does his homework, he will benefit a lot from this. First of all, he needs to continue his training process and stay hungry and focused.”
“I think he will be given a fight this year, or even a rematch, and he deserves it. Anyways, I think he needs it, and it will help him a lot. I hope he finds a way to use it for his own advantage. We will see it when he gets a rematch and will take the belt.” {H/T MMA Mania}
‘The Eagle’ concluded, “I think that’s the way it should be. Just like in a good Turkish TV show, there is always a happy end.”
Shivansh Thakur
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