Aljamain Sterling became the first fighter to be crowned UFC champion due to a disqualification at UFC 259 when then-titleholder Petr Yan landed a blatantly illegal strike in the fourth round.
Yan was ahead on the scorecards going into championship round, but blew his chances in his first title defense by landing a knee to Sterling’s face while his opponent had one knee down on the ground.
American Top Team coach Marcos “Parrumpinha” da Matta, who worked with Yan for the first time ahead of UFC 259, revealed that the referee went to their locker room earlier that night to go over the rules and focused on that exact same situation.