UFC star Aljamain Sterling (23-3 MMA) was left feeling disrespected following the recent comments made by his boss Dana White.
The UFC bantamweight champion recently accepted a fight to defend his title again against Sean O’Malley (16-1 MMA) in the main event of UFC 292 in August.
However, Sterling has since revealed that he needs to monitor how is body recovers since his five round war with former two division champion, Henry Cejudo (16-3 MMA) a couple of weeks ago at UFC 288.
During the UFC Vegas 73 post fight press conference, White seemed confused by Sterling’s concerns suggesting that Sterling “is one of those guys who can’t get out of his own way,” before reaffirming that Boston’s main event is “absolutely, positively on.”
Aljamain Sterling hits back at UFC President Dana White
On Monday morning, Sterling released a new episode of his podcast where he was able to react to White’s comments, where he questioned the level of respect his promoter has for him and his commitment for competition.
“Why is it so hard for Dana to go… ‘Absolutely the fight is done, we spoke to him, this kid’s always shown up to the fights, always makes weight, always does the media stuff, we know he’s going to show up, yeah he just fought two weeks ago, he’s a little banged up but he gave us his word he’s going to show up for this fight, the kid’s a killer, the kid’s a stud,’” Sterling exclaimed on ‘The Weekly Scraps’.
Sterling continued, “The same way he does for Conor. If Conor does something, ‘Wow, isn’t he awesome?’ Can I be awesome too, Dana?”
It seems that Aljamain Sterling is gaining everyone’s respect except for his promoter, in spite of all of what he’s achieved, the 33-year-old is just looking for a little respect and to be on the same page as the guy who promotes his name.
“I’m not asking for much. If you want me to give you the CARFAX, I’ll give you the motherf****** CARFAX. Don’t play with my name, bro. If we’re going to do this together, let’s get on the same page, and let’s do this s*** the right way. I said I’m fighting. What else do you want me to do? I’m f****** fighting. Just, f***, let’s figure this s*** out,” Sterling expressed.
Despite their back and forth, there’s no doubt the ‘Funk Master’ will make that walk and stand tall in the Octagon ready to defend his gold at UFC 292.
Win, draw or lose, at UFC 292, Aljamain Sterling’s commitment to competition should warrant a display of respect from Dana White.