Aljamain Sterling is taking a wellness vacation, according to his hashtags.
The reigning UFC bantamweight champion is being shipped off to the BioXcellerator facility in Medellin, Colombia, to receive stem cell treatments for his torn biceps. The goal is to help “Funk Master” avoid surgery and expedite his Octagon return.
Until then, his Henry Cejudo title defense remains on hold.
“I believe this procedure will help kind of get me through without needing surgery and get me back to competing and being at 100 percent,” Sterling said. “So I’m very much looking forward to this. I know Joe Rogan has nothing but good things to say. I know Kamaru Usman, Frankie Edgar, Chris Weidman, Al Iaquinta, so I’m hoping I could follow in [their] footsteps and have nothing but success with the results and the trip all the way out there to Colombia. I’m hoping I can be another candidate and show the world the procedure and the protocol does work and can get athletes back to a high level, competing at a high level, and get your health in order.”
Sterling (22-3) has not competed since finishing former champion TJ Dillashaw at the UFC 280 pay-per-view (PPV) last October. As for Cejudo (16-2), two years older than Sterling at 35, he’s been out of action since early 2020 after a brief (and somewhat hasty) retirement.
But not everyone is buying what “Funk Master” is selling.
“I wonder if he’s using that to kind of just be able to chill, like, ‘I’m injured, I’m injured,’ so everyone can’t expect him to fight then,” top bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley said on his TimboSugarShow podcast.
Perhaps it’s time to pull the trigger on this offer?