“Almost every UFC fight,” Aljamain Sterling talks about the impact of the brutal neck injury on his MMA career
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Aljamain Sterling
UFC Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has had one long road in the UFC to become the undisputed champion and mind you, a very painful one too. Last to last month in April, Sterling shut the trolling mouth of his haters on the internet and otherwise when he was able to win his UFC title with no controversies this time in the rematch with the former champion Petr Yan at UFC 273, Sterling won the belt in the first fight against Yan back in March 2021 but it was due to Yan’s illegal knee strike that led to a disqualification win.
In between the first fight and the rematch, Sterling went through a massive amount of trolling and a painful journey to deal with the long time neck injury that he suffered during his high school days. Sterling, therefore, had to replace one of the discs on his neck with a titanium plate via the surgery. But it was all worth it when Sterling defeated Yan for the second time but this time quite conveniently even though it was a split decision. Yan now believes that he actually won the rematch and therefore wants the trilogy as soon as possible.
Aljamain Sterling remembers the time he was about to pull out from the Petr Yan fight
Aljamain Sterling became the guest of the newest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience where he talked about his life in general and also shed some important light on the grave medical issues he was dealing with before the surgery throughout his career in the UFC. It has been 8 years since Sterling made his debut inside the world’s biggest MMA organization promotion.
“I have MRIs dating back to 2014 when I had my UFC debut and every time was about my neck,” says Sterling “Almost every single fight I had an MRI about my neck because I kept thinking ‘okay this is the time I might have to get a fix, this is the time,’ and we were able to just let it heal… before the first Yan fight when he pulled out, I was contemplating on pulling out because my neck had a really bad flare-up and I thought I wasn’t gonna make it to the fight…” continued Sterling.
What do you make of Aljamain Sterling’s journey with his neck injury and still making it to the top? Who do you think Sterling should fight next? Well, there’s Petr Yan trilogy, there can be a fight with current #2 ranked bantamweight TJ Dillashaw, a legacy fight with either one out of Jose Aldo or Dominick Cruz and meanwhile, 2022 will also mark the return of the combat sports legend Henry Cejudo inside the octagon who’s coming out of his retirement that last 2 years.
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)