For Aljamain Sterling, UFC 273 win over Petr Yan confirmed his own belief in himself

After 25 minutes of emotional and physical mixed martial arts, with the stakes the highest they’ve ever been, and after 13 months of mental fortitude dealing with the questioning of his character and skill set, Uniondale’s Aljamain Sterling still needed a few extra seconds of brain time to process what would come next.

“Salvatore D’Amato scores it 48-47 Sterling,” Bruce Buffer announced in the octagon last Saturday night at UFC 273 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The inclusion of a fighter’s last name when reading the first judge’s scoring of a fight is a clear indication that a split decision or perhaps a draw has been rendered. The second judge scored it “48-47 Yan,” leaving Sterling’s bantamweight title unification bout against Petr Yan hanging in the balance.

Every fighter tries to appear confident in this moment, sure enough that their effort and output will carry them to the raised hand, the post-fight adulation and, usually, a second win-money check.

“I'm just thinking, ‘How the hell could they have scored this for Yan? In what universe did he win three rounds?,'” Sterling told Newsday. “And in what universe did I not get a 10-8? In my head, I’m doing the math, the best that he could hope for was a draw.

“I was a little, uh, a little worried. Definitely concerned.”

Then came Buffer again to alleviate Sterling’s concern, albeit after drawing out the drama for a few extra seconds.

“Eliseo Rodriguez scores the contest 48-47, for the winner by split decision and now the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion of the world,” Buffer boasted to the crowd, “Aljamain ‘Funkmaster’ Sterling.”

Sterling fell to his knees in excitement, relief, joy, happiness and finally free of more than a year’s worth of verbal attacks in interviews and social media because he became the champion after Yan was disqualified in their first fight in March 2021 for throwing an illegal knee.

Going into the rematch at UFC 273, Sterling (21-3) said repeatedly that he still felt like the champion regardless of what anyone said or tweeted or Photoshopped, based on his resume going into that title shot, one he clearly earned with five straight wins, including two submissions and three clear and dominant unanimous decisions.

But the outside perception after the rematch was that this was Sterling’s coronation as a true champion.

“I agree that's what the public perception is now for the most part overall, but I still felt like regardless of whatever happened, I was going to feel like the champ or former champ regardless,” Sterling said. “Winning this and winning this way just only proved that I knew exactly what I was talking about. I wasn't just blowing hot air.”

On fight day in the first fight last year, Sterling said he barely ate – “two pancakes, two eggs”—a body fueling issue he attributed to his late-round struggles against Yan (16-3) and has since called a “mental mistake.”

The rematch of fighters did not bring about a repeat performance in the cage or the cafeteria.

“It's almost like what didn’t I eat, I ate so much,” Sterling said. “I had pasta and salmon, pesto salmon. We had a good breakfast in the morning. Eggs, omelet, a little bit of bacon. A ton of electrolytes. Just fueling up. Had some fruits, some pineapple, blueberries, strawberries.”

And now he can feast on all those who doubted him.

By Mark La Monica

mark.lamonica@newsday.comLaMonicaMark

Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.