Team Sterling responds after Petr Yan threatens a potential hotel brawl ahead of UFC 273

Aljamain Sterling’s team doesn’t think Petr Yan will actually do anything after his threat at media day.

Yan and Sterling are set to rematch in the co-main event of UFC 273 after they first met at UFC 259. The lead-up to their first fight was intense and in the fourth round, Yan threw an illegal knee and was DQ’d leaving Sterling to become the new champ. Since then, Yan has taken shots at ‘Funkmaster’ and at media day said if he sees Sterling and his team he will kill them all prior to the actual event.

“If we see his team, we kill [all his] team,” Yan told reporters at UFC 273 media day. “Right now, not Saturday.”

Although Yan says he would fight Sterling it seems unlikely anything would happen before Saturday as the fight would then be pulled and he wouldn’t get paid. With that, Al Iaquinta, a teammate of Sterling doubts anything will happen but tells the Russian to leave the teams out of it and just worry about ‘Funkmaster’.

“He’s not going to do anything,” Iaquinta told MMA Junkie. “Fight’s on Saturday night and he’s got a lot to be worried about. He should leave the teams out of it. … Bad idea. Aljo’s doing his thing Saturday night. Good luck.”

Aljamain Sterling’s other teammate, Merab Dvalishvili also backed Iaquinta’s words as he thinks Petr Yan made a mistake by saying that. Along with that, Dvalishvili thinks Sterling will not only beat the Russian but will finish him on Saturday night.

“He made big mistake,” Dvalishvili said. “Aljo will show him, Aljo will finish him. .. We gonna let him fight first then we’re going to take care of him and his team after.”

There’s no question that the rivalry between Sterling and Yan is alive and well ahead of UFC 273.

What do you make of Aljamain Sterling’s team’s response to Petr Yan?