Aljamain Sterling earned a split-decision victory over Chase Hooper in a No Gi grappling match at the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship event on Friday.
Emanating from the Mubadala Arena at Zayed Sports City, ADXC-2 was the third time we’ve seen the former UFC bantamweight champion put his grappling skills to the test since suffering a brutal second-round knockout loss against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292.
After making appearances under the Polaris and Fury Pro banners, the ‘Funkmaster’ went toe-to-toe with fellow UFC fighter Chase Hooper in an event that also featured notable MMA standouts including Rinat Fakhredinov, Sidney Outlaw, Terrance McKinney, and Douglas Lima.
After going the distance with Hooper, Sterling was revealed as the winner via a closely contested split decision.
“Hooper did some good stuff and I expected that,” Sterling said in a post-match interview. “He was the bigger guy coming into this and I’m trying to transition, going up a weight class so what better way to test my skills than to see how good of a grappler I truly am for MMA and for competition BJJ than going against a guy like that.”
Fans Don’t Agree With Aljamain Sterling’s Split Decision Win
There were many fight fans tuning into the contest who did not agree with the decision in favor of Sterling, some calling the result an outright robbery on social media.
“He even robbing people in grappling competitions. Biggest fraud ever.”
“Robbery”
“SPLIT??”
“Corruption”
“And the crowd goes mild”
“N***a is the goat of split decisions”
“The splitmaster does it again”
After establishing himself as one of the greatest bantamweights in UFC history, Aljamain Sterling will make the move to featherweight at UFC 300 where he is set to square off with division staple Calvin Kattar.