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Aljamain Sterling believes his fellow bantamweight stars Petr Yan and Sean O'Malley are benefitting from preferential treatment from the UFC boss, aka "Dana White privilege."
The reigning 135-pound champion blasted his rivals in a recent appearance on The Residency Podcast. Asked who he believes gets special treatment, Sterling said:
"Petr Yan got a privilege. He got a handout of a title fight, fighting a guy who's coming off of a loss in the division. That's the major one right there. You can see it here and there. I'm not saying this is not for everybody but you get even [Sean] O'Malley, who's getting these fights that are tailor-made for him to look like a superstar."
Sterling specifically mentioned former champion Yan and rising star O'Malley. According to 'Funk Master', the fact that Yan was booked in an interim title fight against Corey Sandhagen, who lost to TJ Dillashaw in his last outing, proves that the UFC matchmakers are doing him favors. Meanwhile, Sterling believes the UFC has been giving O'Malley easy assignments as far as opponents are concerned.
However, it's important to note that Sandhagen is the logical choice as he's the highest-ranked fighter available for a short-notice bout. Dillashaw, who returned from a two-year suspension this year, is unavailable as he's currently recovering from knee surgery.
Aljamain Sterling was originally scheduled to defend his title against Yan in a rematch of their controversial first bout. However, the American was forced to pull out as he wasn't cleared by doctors to compete.
Watch Aljamain Sterling's interview below:
Aljamain Sterling claims he wasn't given 'Dana White privilege'
Aljamain Sterling said that unlike his fellow stars, he did not benefit from special favors. The 32-year-old mentioned:
"I never got those privileges when I came up. I've been thrown into the fire. I've been tested when you've got some of these guys, like I said, Dana White privileges are getting in the way of certain matchups and things like that. I wanna fight everybody. So at the end of the day, it is what it is. As long as you work hard and you truly believe in yourself, anything can happen."
The term "Dana White privilege" was coined by lightweight star Tony Ferguson. It became a fixture in MMA jargon when 'El Cucuy' accused former Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler of having "Dana White privilege" as he was awarded a title shot after just one fight in the UFC.
