Aljamain Sterling isn’t staying quiet after Movsar Evloev took a jab at him, bringing up old accusations of “acting” from his controversial win against Petr Yan. Back in 2021, Sterling won the UFC bantamweight title after Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee, but some fans and fighters, including Evloev, have been accusing him of faking the severity of the injury.
Now, Evloev is reigniting that debate as part of his trash talk, but Sterling has fired back, reminding everyone that, regardless of the past, he’s gone on to win more belts than Evloev himself.
This back and forth between the two men has been going on for a while now that Sterling has moved up a weight class and now fights at 145-pounds.
Evloev believes that the belt and the title run was undeserved as he faked an injury to win it in the first place.
Needless to say, Sterling will not take such accusations lightly as he put in his life on the line out there in order to win that title. And more importantly, he dominated Petr Yan in the rematch to show that the title was not ‘handed’ to him due to his perceived acting.
In their most recent exchange, Sterling replied to a tweet saying that he liked Yan a lot more than Evloev. The 30-year-old then hit back saying, “You stole his title by acting…. #oscar #actor”
But Sterling, of course, had the last word!
“Yes, illegal knees that you don’t see to the temple, turned me to an “actor”. Makes perfect sense. Still more belts than you bruv.”
Yes, illegal knees that you don’t see to the temple, turned me to an “actor”. Makes perfect sense ♂️
Still more belts than you bruv https://t.co/xBX7dHxNP8— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) September 8, 2024
Unfortunately, this isn’t anything new to Sterling as he has been attacked on all fronts including about his friendship with teammate and ‘brother’ Merab Dvalishvili.
O’Malley questions friendship between Sterling and Dvalishvili
‘Suga‘ stirred the pot, suggesting that Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili’s friendship might not be as solid as it seems. O’Malley speculated that Sterling might secretly hope he knocks out Merab in their upcoming fight, as it would make Sterling’s own loss look better.
Sean O’Malley doesn’t believe Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling are as good of friends as they let on:
“Aljo probably hopes I beat Merab, it makes Aljo look better. I’m just curious if Merab was happy that I knocked out Aljo because if I didn’t knock out Aljo, Merab… pic.twitter.com/nSNXqlN8Bq
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) September 8, 2024
He even hinted that Merab might not have been too upset when O’Malley knocked out Sterling, suggesting that their close bond could be more complicated than people think.
He believes this is the case as Sterling’s loss forced him to move up to 145-pounds which gave Merab a chance. However if Sterling had won, O’Malley does not think he would have moved up in weight leaving Merab stranded.
Regardless, O’Malley does talk a lot of speculative stuff on his podcast but this one in particular can just be attributed to some bizarre form of trash talk ahead of his bantamweight fight with the Georgian Machine at the UFC Noche.
