Aljamain Sterling Believes Herb Dean Got the Stoppage Right at UFC Vegas 56: “Volkov Stays on Him…And That’s Probably Even a Worse Finish than What It Actually Was”

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling spoke out via his YouTube channel and commented on the main event for UFC Vegas 56. The fight was fun until it lasted. However, ultimately, Alexander Volkov earned the quick and controversial stoppage against Surinamese fighter, Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

The fight wrapped up at 2:12 of round one with ‘Drago’ pressuring Rozenstruik against the cage and landing some powerful blows that seemingly wobbled ‘Bigi Boy’. However, just as referee Herb Dean stepped in to call an end to the action, Jairzinho Rozenstruik appeared to have recovered, causing some controversy around the stoppage amongst fans in the MMA community.

Aljamain Sterling weighs in on Volkov vs Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 56

‘The Funkmaster’ went on record, saying that he didn’t believe Dean’s stoppage was a bad one and instead felt that Rozenstruik was out on his feet briefly. He too acknowledged that fighters tend to go out momentarily, and it then becomes the referee’s job to save the fighter from themselves.

“As long as this fight lasted, it was fun. Rozenstruik had his moments, tried to go for the kill, got caught with a right hand and then got caught with a nasty uppercut against the cage. It felt like, from what I was watching, he went limp twice, and when you do that, even if you’re standing up, if you go limp, it looks like the fight is over because it looks like there’s a big disconnect between the brain and the body and you just buckled and you’re not there to respond.”

“So it looks like you’re about to be in even more trouble. Rozenstruik recovered really quickly, but when you go back and watch the stoppage, I do not think it was a bad stoppage.”

Read More: ‘Wasn’t the Amanda Nunes We’re Used to Watching’- Jessica Andrade Rubbishes Julianna Peña’s Performance Against Amanda Nunes, Favors Her Own Odds to Beat Her

He continued on to say that even if Herb Dean had let the fight play out, Alexander Volkov would have used his dominant position to punish Rozenstruik.

“I think it was only going to get worse because Volkov — that split second where [Rozenstruik] got to recover when the ref stopped the fight, if the ref doesn’t do that, Volkov stays on him, lands a couple more shots, and that’s probably even a worse finish than what it actually was.” [h/t mmafighting.com]

Unsurprisingly, Jairzinho Rozenstruik hasn’t shared Aljamain Sterling’s opinion as he pushed back against the stoppage when it was all said and done.