John McCarthy, legendary referee: No way, Aljamain Sterling won Round 1

• UFC

Since last year, there have been dilemmas as to whether Aljamain deserved the belt, and many have eagerly awaited a rematch against Petr Yan. We finally got that rematch, and it can be said that Sterling denied all those who had doubts about him.

However, there is still controversy as to whether Sterling deserved to win this time as well, given that he won by split referee's decision. Some believe that in the end, Yan should have won, but we do not want to enter into refereeing decisions.

John McCarthy, the legendary MMA referee decided to give his comment, and believes Sterling was no better in the first round. Still, McCarthy seems to be thrilled with Sterling's tactics, and Aljamain did the match smartly.

‘‘ I was very impressed with the way Aljo fought, but there’s no way he was better that first round. Stronger blows hit Yan. I think Sterling's clever tactic was to keep himself outside, at a distance, moving constantly, but not hitting much.

He hit a few kicks, but not strong ones, while he was occasionally hit with strong blows. Just before the end of the round, Yan started hitting some good shots. ’’, John McCarthy’s ‘Big’ review of the first round, and then spoke about the other rounds.

‘‘ No one in the world can convince me that Aljo won that first round, but I’ll say he did a great fight. He won the second round convincingly. He didn’t do much damage to Peter Yan and so I see why it was scored 10-9, but it’s arguably the cleanest round in Alja’s favor.

Third fight

So, if we take a closer look, the first round was tight. The fourth and fifth also, but belong to Yan. The second and third easily go to Sterling and so I’m not upset because he won. I think he fought very smartly and we have to pay tribute to him.

He won the belt the way he should have won it. ’’ McCarthy added. Also, some other famous referees decided to score, but most still believe that Sterling was better. It is for these reasons that it would be interesting to watch their third fight.

For now, the previous two have brought big dilemmas. The question is how realistic it is to come third, but Dana White and the team can always surprise us with their decisions. We believe that the third fight would be a real spectacle and would probably solve some dilemmas.