“Russia, I will punish your boy, and you cannot do anything about it. I'll show you who is chatting all this on March 5th. Good morning,” Sterling wrote on Instagram.
Last March, Yan lost to Sterling by disqualification due to a prohibited knee blow and lost the title. The rematch was supposed to take place on October 30 at UFC 267, but the American withdrew from the fight due to injury. As a result, the Russian fought for the interim belt with Cory Sandhagen, winning by unanimous decision.