After 13 months of chatter, cancellations and debates, it turns out that Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan may not be able to wait another week to sort out their issue.

UFC 259 hosted arguably the most controversial end of any title fight in UFC history when Aljamain Sterling became the first man to win a world title by disqualification. The cause of the DQ came when Yan blasted a downed Sterling with an illegal knee and the “FunkMaster” was deemed unfit to continue.

The debate revolved around whether Sterling was truly unable to continue after the knee or whether he was exploiting the opportunity to end the fight on his terms and get a rematch at a later date. The cancellations came when the fight dropped from the UFC 267 and UFC 272 rosters.

Trash talk? Always served with lots of beef. But everything will be settled once and for all this Saturday at UFC 273 unless Team Yan and Team Sterling cross paths first, says the interim champion.

“If we see his team, we kill every team (member) right now, not Saturday,” was the message Yan delivered to reporters without the need for a translator during a UFC 273 media scrum.

Aljamain Sterling responds to Yan’s threat with an invite

When it was Aljamain Sterling’s turn to address reporters, he was informed of Yan’s bold words. After laughing it off, the bantamweight champion let it be known that he wouldn’t back down if Yan approached with violent energy. In fact, he even went the extra mile by hosting Yan in his hotel room if the Russian really can’t wait for Saturday’s action.

“I haven’t seen it. Honestly, I kinda want to see it just to see what would happen. I mean, I’m calm, cool, collected,” Sterling told reporters during his scrimmage. I go there for the energy it will bring. So if he thinks it’s going to pass, then I’m ready. I am more than ready. I’m ready now; I’m ready on Saturday.

“So if you really want to do something, I’m here. I’m in the same hotel as you. You can find me. If you want, I can give you my room number… so that’s it.

Dana White and the UFC brass should heed these words from the UFC 273 co-participants. Many fans may write these words as empty pre-fight speech, but like Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier l proved in a 2014 showdown and, more recently, Jorge Masvidal allegedly proved in front of a Miami steakhouse on Colby Covington, violence could always rise above the voices, especially when professional fighters are involved.

What do you think of Petr Yan’s threat to eradicate Team Sterling if the two teams cross paths before UFC 273?