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Daniel Cormier has given his thoughts on Aljamain Sterling’s comments regarding his controversial win at UFC 259.
For those who have been living under a rock, “Funk Master” is now the new UFC bantamweight champion after defeating Petr Yan via disqualification. The controversy surrounding the decision itself was huge, despite most fans and fighters alike being able to see the Russian’s illegal knee was purposely thrown.
Unfortunately for Sterling, due to a combination of his post-fight interview and pictures being released of him with the belt, the MMA community hasn’t been particularly welcoming to the idea of him as the new champion.
The Sterling dilemma
There are clear frustrations on both sides and during a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Sterling made it crystal clear that nobody knows what he went through.
Because of that, he’s tired of media members and former fighters calling him out with Daniel Cormier seemingly being one of those in the firing line.
“Young brother @funkmasterMMA just get off the internet bro. You don’t need to explain, it isn’t helping. We will talk, it’s what we do. You have to just leave it alone! Enjoy your time, recover, spend time with your family and just relax. Can’t fight every battle”.
It’s true that Sterling has been at the heart of every single joke and jab coming out of UFC 259. Regardless, he’s the one who walked away with the belt. Sterling now has time to recuperate prior to what is bound to be an electric rematch against former champion Petr Yan.
The expectation is that we’ll see the rematch take place at some point this year. Before then, one would expect Sterling to need a month or two off to recover before he gets back into any kind of fight camp.
The blessing for Aljamain is that he knows where he went wrong in the fight, he knows how to improve and he can make those adjustments for his next meeting with “No Mercy”. Yan has the same luxuries but an added sense of pressure, because if he loses, his path back to the title will become very difficult.
