Aljamain Sterling is unhappy with Dana White for recent comments he made about the bantamweight champion in regards to his next fight against Sean O’Malley.
White himself had recently announced that Sterling vs. O’Malley would be taking place at UFC 292 in August, but the 135lb champ cautioned several days later that there was only a verbal agreement in place and that he still had to wait and see whether he fully healed from the injuries he sustained during his win over Henry Cejudo earlier this month.
That news appeared to bemuse White, who claimed that Sterling, “is one of those guys can’t get out of his own way,” before declaring that the headlining fight is, “absolutely, positively on.”
White’s apparent frustration likely stems from the fact that it’s not the first time that Sterling has pushed back or postponed fights during his title reign, but the star, who has now successfully defended the title on three occasions, has maade it clear he believes that the UFC head honcho isn’t showing him enough respect with his comments.
“You put me in this situation and you make it sound as if… if you want me to be the bad guy, tell me behind closed doors,” Sterling said on his podcast.
“I’ll play the character, but get me in on the joke, but not when you’re going to keep doing this stuff, making me look like a b****. Like, nah, bro, you’re not going to keep doing that to me, dog. Get the f*** out of here. Dana, get out of here with that. I’ve done everything the UFC has asked me to do — two partially torn biceps, went through two training camps like that, fought through them, beat Petr Yan, former champion. [I] beat T.J. Dillashaw, former champion.
“And then you’ve got Henry Cejudo, ‘the greatest combat athlete of all-time,’ I beat this guy, also with a partially torn bicep tendon. I got stem cells. Every time they have asked me to fight, I put my nuts on the table and I showed out every single time and won. At what point do I get credit from the UFC, from Uncle Dana?”
Sterling wasn’t finished there though and continued to vent his frustration about the current state of his relations with White.
“When I look at all of that, I’m like, ‘What else could you possibly want from a champion who is active, competing, doing the stuff that you ask of him, promote the fight,’ and I’m out here in these streets working. My thing with Dana is, damn, dog, why can’t you give credit where credit is due? Even if you feel I can’t get out my own way — which there’s no context behind that, because I’ve literally done everything you have asked.
“What does that mean, Dana? I’m pretty sure he couldn’t give you a straight answer of what that means.
“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,’. The same way he does for Conor. If Conor does something, ‘Wow, isn’t he awesome?’ Can I be awesome too, Dana?
“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.”
