Demetrious Johnson exposes Aljamain Sterling's grappling weakness in response to "too little" dig - "I would eat his a** up for breakfast"

Aljamain Sterling recently called out ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, claiming that the latter is too small to beat him. 'Mighty Mouse' didn't let this challenge go unanswered and retorted that he would overcome 'Funk Master' due to his prowess in the clinch game.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, Johnson invited Sterling to spar before adding:

"I feel his weakness is he has no clinch game. Like, I would eat his a** up for breakfast in the clinch game. I feel like rhythm wise, I move way better than he does in the feet. Grappling, he is longer, so I would never let him get my f**king back, because he'll lock them f**king 'Funk Master' legs in a body triangle like he did to Petr Yan, and I'll have to survive him doing that."

Johnson continued:

"I feel like his shot, I feel like my balance now and my clinch game would give his shot getting close. The one thing he does that helps to my advantage is that he crosses a distance for me, right? He does this s**t right here and a funky-a** kick, and I'm like, 'Perfect. Come here, I wanna show you a thing called Muay Thai clinch.' I just feel like I'll eat him alive in a clinch."

Check out Demetrious Johnson's comments on Aljamain Sterling below (starting at the 40:50 mark):

Johnson added that he has been trying to help Henry Cejudo improve in the clinch. He claimed that if 'Triple C' was better in the clinch, he would have defeated Sterling at UFC 288.

What did Aljamain Sterling say when he called out Demetrious Johnson?

Aljamain Sterling has shared that he plans to move to featherweight following his upcoming UFC 292 title defense against Sean O'Malley. The bantamweight champion, however, recently called out ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Speaking at the UFC 292 Q&A, 'Funk Master' stated:

"He's too little, man. 'Mighty Mouse' is great, but he's too little. There's a reason why he lost to [Dominick Cruz]. It wasn't a skill deficiency. It's size... He's skilled, but I think father time has passed him a little bit. If he wants to get this work, try to get some revenge for Henry [Cejudo], I can beat your boy too, so 'Mighty Mouse', where you at?" [h/t MMA Fighting]

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments on Demetrious Johnson below:

While Sterling appears open to a bout with Johnson, the latter is no longer on the UFC roster. It is unclear if he would be open to returning or if ONE Championship would allow him out of his contract. It remains unlikely that the UFC would be open to a cross-promotional bout.