With his impressive and unexpected performance during the co-main event of UFC 273, Aljamain Sterling temporarily silenced the hordes of fans and professionals that labeled him an illegitimate champion.
Although the fight was extremely close, Sterling walked away with a decision victory over Petr Yan that seemed unfathomable to most fans only weeks prior. However, despite his successful title defense, there are still those that contend with the judges awarding the bout to Sterling. Among those who favor Yan on their personal scorecards is UFC president Dana White.
Aljamain Sterling Claims Dana White Is “Throwing Dirt On His Name.”
Speaking to BJPENN.com, Aljamain Sterling had a few choice words regarding Dana White’s post-fight opinions on UFC 273’s bantamweight title fight. “Dana’s always going to be throwing dirt on my name; that’s just what he does,” said Sterling. “I think he has Yan rated so highly; he’s such a dangerous guy, and to have the grappler do that to him, he was really, really shocked.”(Transcribed by MMAmania.com)
Sterling even aimed at White’s position on dominant grapplers in the UFC.”…when it comes to the fights, he doesn’t really like grapplers like that unless you are Khabib,” said Sterling.
Sterling also claimed that White didn’t believe that he stood a chance ahead of his rematch with Yan. “Sucks to be him right now in the sense of you really wrote me off after everything you have seen me do in this sport, in his organization, it’s a slap in the face, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t bother me,” he continued. “I think it bothers him more, clearly, because he doesn’t know how to judge a fight, which it shows. I think he maybe let his emotions get ahead of him, and that’s probably it. He was probably really invested in Yan winning that fight, and I threw a monkey wrench into their plans.”
White isn’t the only MMA professional that raised Sterling’s ire. Earlier this week, Sterling called out Big John McCarthy on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani for also scoring the fight in favor of Yan.