Aljamain Sterling has first-hand experience of how tough it is to fight Petr Yan.
Although Sterling holds two bantamweight title wins over Yan (19-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC), he had plenty of hard rounds with the former champion. After losing to Sterling the second time, Yan went onto lose two more fights, before turning things around.
He is now on a three-fight winning streak, most recently outstriking rising contender Marcus McGhee this past Saturday in the UFC on ABC 9 co-headliner in Abu Dhabi. Sterling thought McGhee did well in Round 1, but couldn’t handle Yan’s forward pressure as the fight went on.
“Yan is just here the whole time, going forward,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “You can hit him as much as you want, but then if you give him an opening where he can land a clean shot, he’s going to land a clean shot, and he finds it over and over again with these guys. To fight backwards the whole time for 15 minutes or 25 minutes is extremely hard, very taxing, and eventually your punches start to wane a bit. …A guy like that (Yan), you’ve got to knock him the f*ck out.
“If that guy wants to keep walking forward, you have to be ready to say, ‘OK, I’m going to go in this booth, and it’s either him or me. One of us is going to have to drop.’ I think Petr makes this decision every time he steps out there, ‘I’m going to constantly go forward, I’m going to walk you down, I’m going to put these punches in your face, and when I land, I’m going to make sure I’m landing with impact and some type of authority.’ Again, it’s really hard to fight going backwards.”
Sterling explained why Yan’s opponents have such a hard time against him.
“He’s willing to trade in the pocket, and he’s willing to put his chin on the line,” Sterling said. “I think that’s the most impressive thing about him. He trusts his chin, and he trusts that his defense is going to be able to hold up so that he can land a better shot than you can. That is the difference. If you’re going to sign a fight with Petr Yan, you’re going to have to be able to neutralize him and keep him still for a few minutes to cook clock.
“I hate to say it because it sounds boring, but what the f*ck would you do with this Terminator machine, Jason Voorhees, just walking you down, and every time you punch him, he just comes back forward? And you just start to get like, ‘Well what else am I supposed to hit him with? Kitchen sink?’ If you can’t neutralize him, he’s getting back up and he’s going to be the boogeyman walking you down.”
