Undisputed UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has floated a payday in the region of $50,000,000 to even consider fighting his training partner and Serra-Longo MMA teammate, Merab Dvalishvili in the future – after the Georgia native called for Dana White to slap $50,000,000,000 to see the duo share the Octagon.
Sterling, the current undisputed bantamweight champion, is slated to return to active competition at UFC 288 in May, headlining at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Attempting to secure his third consecutive successful bantamweight title defense, Uniondale native, Aljamain Sterling takes main event honors against former duel-weight champion, Henry Cejudo – welcoming the Olympic gold medalist back from a three-year retirement from the sport.
As for Dvalishvili, the Tbilisi native headlined UFC Las Vegas last weekend against former undisputed champion, Petr Yan – turning in a dominant unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) victory over the Russian over the course of five rounds.
Denying the opportunity to fight teammate, Sterling if presented to him by the UFC – Dvalishvili claimed he would need a fee in the region of a cool $10,000,000,000 to fight the champion, after he was issued a warning by UFC leader, Dana White.
Aljamain Sterling talks a potential fight with teammate, Merab Dvalishvili
Now sharing his thoughts on a clamored-for fight with the newly minted number one contender, Dvalishvili, Sterling claimed a $50,000,000 payday may make him consider a matchup.
“It’s his (Dana White’s) business, so I know he’s going to make the matchups the fans want to see – I know the fans would love to see that,” Aljamain Sterling told Barstool Sports of a fight with Merab Dvalishvili. “We do more than enough in the [training] room with each other, you know. Merab (Dvalishvili) is a great dude, he’ll take his shirt off for anybody – he doesn’t have to know you. He’s just that type of guy.”
“To have that relationship with him and just throw it away for, what, $500,000?” Aljamain Sterling explained. “We never talked about that. And for us to fight for that type of money just doesn’t make any sense. Now, if we were talking about NFL money – these guys can actually – these guys make $50,000,000 for like one or two years. That’s life-changing money. Why would we ever cross that type of line, to do something that’s not even going to last us – something that could set us up financially for the rest of our lives? That’s just not worth it for me.”
In his most recent Octagon outing, Sterling stopped former two-time bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw with a second round TKO back in October of last year in the co-main event of UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.