Aljamain Sterling clears the air on his withdrawal from his title rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 267.
Amidst the UFC 266 festivities on Saturday, an important piece of news broke out. Crowned UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling was forced out of his UFC 267 title rematch due to an injury.
“Funkmaster” had already been taking a lot of heat given the controversial nature of his win, and this recent mishap made him a bigger open target. Sterling then decided to speak up and shed light on his situation through a recent Instagram post.
As always, I like to share the truth and be transparent with my fan base that actually give a shit about fighters health. Training has been going well but I’ve been struggling to get my body to push pass 2 RDs in sparring sessions.
The fatigue that sets in and the cramping still lingers, which my surgeon said is due to the nerves still recovering from the long-term trauma, and surgery I just had.
Nothing I can do about that, other than show up in another shell of myself and risk wasting the surgery and maybe getting severely hurt!!
I originally wanted to fight in December but the plans were pushed up earlier. Unfortunately, my body isn’t agreeing with me and I asked for an extension and asked for Petr Yan to wait, so that I will be the first man in the UFC to beat his ass.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed that Sterling’s withdrawal was more of a doctor’s call. The UFC is said to be looking for other options for Yan, and it is unclear whether or not he will remain on the card.
UFC 267 will be a non-pay-per-view numbered event that takes place on October 30 in Fight Island. Headlining the card is the light heavyweight title bout between champion Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.