“I think that’s a pretty good, logical reason not to want to be paralyzed in the octagon,” Aljamain Sterling talks about the reason for his withdrawal from UFC 267

“I think that’s a pretty good, logical reason not to want to be paralyzed in the octagon,” Aljamain Sterling talks about the reason for his withdrawal from UFC 267

Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan

The UFC Bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling was booked to face the former Bantamweight champion, Petr Yan in the co-main event of UFC 267. But following his neck surgery, Sterling didn’t get clearance from the doctors to enter this fight and he has to pull out his name from UFC 267.

Following this Yan traded some jabs with Sterling over social media, which also includes some shots at his fiancé as well. Talking about this feud in his latest interview with MMA Fighting, Aljamain Sterling says,

“I just think the guy’s a piece of shit, I just really can’t wait to get back in there and smack the f*ck out of him. I want to fight him, but there’s going to be a point in the fight where, I’m telling you, I’m just going to smack the f*ck out of him.”

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Now the promotion has booked an interim title fight between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen and it’s obviously not something that Aljamain Sterling wanted but he also doesn’t want to put his life in danger for his first title defense.

Sterling added, “I think that’s a pretty good, logical reason not to want to be paralyzed in the octagon, I’m not looking to be the first person to win a belt by DQ and the first person in the octagon to be paralyzed in the cage.”

“I’m sorry if I think my health is more important, and the longevity of me living in my body, my capsule, is more important than proving some stupid beef who’s the better fighter when I’m not even 100 percent yet.” {H/T MMA Fighting}

Aljamain Sterling believes the responsibility of the Bantamweight division isn’t on his shoulders

Petr Yan Aljamain Sterling
Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan

Aljamain Sterling has been facing the outrage of fight fans around the world since he won the Bantamweight title via disqualification against Petr Yan and now after withdrawing from the title fight he is being accused of holding back the division.

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Sterling added, “I just hope the fans can understand, the reasonable fans with a brain, actually understand that, that this was all because of Petr Yan, that this division is now in this situation, He could have won the fight. He started to pull away. … He was beating my ass. That’s a fact. But this is all his fault because he’s that stupid.”

Also Read: “Petr Yan was beating my as*that’s a fact,” Aljamain Sterling shares his thoughts on Petr Yan fight, predicts the result of Yan vs Sandhagen at UFC 267.