UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling burst into tears as he made weight for tomorrow night's world title defence against Petr Yan.
Sterling tipped the scales at 134.5lb for the rematch with Yan, who himself made the weight comfortably with a pound to spare under the 135lb limit. The pair fought to a controversial DQ finish 13 months ago, with Sterling taking the belt after Yan threw an illegal knee, despite the Russian dominating the fight.
And despite being a monstrous underdog for their second bout, Sterling has left no stone unturned in his preparation for his first title defence, showing up in the shape of his life for the UFC 273 co-main event. He says he has been training much better since an intense surgery on his neck for a disc-replacement.
It all appeared to be too much for Sterling when, after a likely gruelling weight cut, he made his rematch with Yan official today before sobbing on the scales. He explained to TSN afterwards "A lot of people wrote me off and thought my career was pretty much over, they didn't think that I'd come back after that surgery... I felt like the music had stopped, I'm just glad I got another opportunity."
"I always put it off because I was able to get through it and compete," he had originally said of the injury during a recent interview for the UFC 273 countdown show. "I've walked through fire to just show up for fights."
There was major controversy after Yan and Sterling's first fight, with many believing that due to the nature of his win, the American should have relinquished the belt. But just hours after the event, he was seen partying with pals and celebrating that he was now the UFC's bantamweight champion.
"I think the worst case scenario for me is that the fight should have been ruled as a 'no contest'," Yan argued after the fact. "Instead of awarding a losing fighter with the belt.
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"After such a fight, a fighter with dignity would not accept this title and would not name himself a champion - the only plan is to go out and show a dominant performance, because everyone who knows MMA doesn't consider him champion."
The pair have stayed rivals for the past year, particularly when the Russian was forced to face Corey Sandhagen instead of Sterling for an interim belt at UFC 267 in Dubai. The rematch had been booked, but the champion had lingering issues with his neck and was deemed unable to compete.
They will provide the chief support to Alexander Volkanovski vs Chang 'The Korean Zombie' Sung-Jung for the featherweight belt on the promotion's return to Jacksonville. Fans are also excited to see Khamzat Chimaev take a major step up in competition against Gilbert Burns in a massive welterweight clash.
