Sterling is worried his friend and teammate Dvalishvili is getting rushed into a title fight against the very dangerous Umar Nurmagomedov.
After a lot of back-and-forth about not wanting to grant Umar Nurmagomedov a title shot, Merab Dvalishvili will indeed defend the bantamweight title against Khabib’s cousin at UFC 311 in Los Angeles on January 11th.
How that fight came to be is a bit contested. UFC CEO Dana White said Merab barged into his office and demanded the fight ASAP because of Umar’s disrespect. Merab told a slightly different story when asked on the Ariel Helwani Show. He implied the UFC leaned on him pretty hard to take the fight on short notice, and he said yes because he’s ‘a company man.’
Ask how well that worked for Aljamain Sterling, who accepted a short turnaround fight against Sean O’Malley in order to be seen as a ‘company man.’ He lost the belt and is now fighting deep in the prelims of pay-per-views he once headlined and got a financial cut from. As Merab’s teammate, he had some opinions on his friend’s situation.
“Let’s be honest, [Merab x Umar] is being made on 6 weeks notice, maybe 6 1/2. For a title fight? I understand having to do that if you’re a challenger, but as a champion, you shouldn’t be relegated to those type of stipulations.”
Aljo on Merab fighting Umar at UFC 311. pic.twitter.com/WoO83aa4yZ
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 17, 2024
“I don’t like anyone getting short-sighted, blind-sided, having to take something on short notice,” Sterling said on the Ariel Helwani Show. “Let’s be honest: this fight’s being made on six weeks notice, maybe six and a half for a title fight. I understand having to do that if you’re a challenger, but as a champion, you shouldn’t be relegated to those type of stipulations. It’s just not right.”
“It leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” he continued. “Why did I work so hard to get this position to call the shots or some of the shots, and you’re not even getting a fair shake in it? So hopefully we go out there and, knock on wood, Merab does his thing. He takes [Umar’s] 0, puts on a great performance, and we can move on from this and onto the next.”
It’s easy to say that fighters should simply tell the UFC no when they ask for these short-notice turnarounds. That ignores the massive amount of power the promotion wields in deciding how much money you make, who you fight, and when you fight. Say no and you could find yourself riding the bench way longer than you anticipate. And the opponent you get upon your return is twice as tough as the one you said no to, and you may end up on the early prelims where no one will see you.
This isn’t some conspiracy theory. These are all established tactics that were revealed in texts and emails during the UFC antitrust lawsuit that showed how management keeps fighters in line. There’s the carrot: extra big money sponsorships brokered by UFC and handed directly to fighters. And the stick: don’t f— up our schedule or we’ll f— up your schedule.
As Sterling said, all they can do is hope the shorter training camp doesn’t affect Merab’s performance. Because as “Funkmaster” is discovering, the road back to the top can be long and hard indeed.