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Aljamain Sterling responded succinctly to a fake Anthony Smith X page launching a racially charged callout to Israel Adesanya.
The banter between the two former UFC light heavyweight title challengers is very much not real, and the former UFC bantamweight champion was shaking his head at it all.
Responding to a parody account masquerading as Smith calling out Adesanya with racial slurs, Sterling kept his thoughts brief. In a retweet of the egregious online barb, Sterling said on X:
"I hate twitter sometimes."
The prevalence of fake social media profiles purporting to be someone else has been a noticeable issue as of late on X. However, purporting to be someone else and saying egregious things has been popping up more in the MMA global village.
Check out Sterling's response to the phony social media exchange below:
What is next for Aljamain Sterling?
Aljamain Sterling last competed under MMA rules in August and was unseated from his throne as the UFC bantamweight champion in the process. Sean O'Malley finished Sterling early in the second round of their championship headliner at UFC 292 in August.
The former 135-pound champion has been hinting at a move north to featherweight for his return outing in 2024. Sterling has publically mentioned names like Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar as return opponents and mentioned the ranked featherweights as possible options on his own YouTube channel.
A late first quarter or early second quarter of the new calendar year seems to be the target for Sterling, as UFC 299 in March and UFC 300 in April are being discussed as rumored return cards.
Aljamain Sterling has been more active in the grappling world since his last MMA bout. Sterling collected a unanimous decision win on September 30 in a grappling contest under the Polaris banner. 'Funk Master' defeated Mike Grundy at Polaris 25 and now looks to have back-to-back victories to close the year.
Aljamain Sterling is set to return to the submission grappling ranks at Fury Pro Grappling 8, which takes place on December 30. Sterling will compete against Kevin Dantzler in a bout that is prominently featured and much anticipated.
