Dana White escalates feud with Aljamain Sterling, slams him for his ‘why can’t you give credit’ accusations
UFC president Dana White doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with his champions. Most recently, he seems to have entered into a war of words with reigning bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling.
White’s issue with ‘The Funk Master’ arose earlier this month, when the UFC head honcho announced that his next bantamweight title bout would take place at UFC 292 in August against Sean O’Malley.
THEY MEET AUGUST 19TH!!
@FunkMasterMMA vs @SugaSeanMMA to headline #UFC292 in Boston! https://t.co/m607pABVue
During a recent press conference, White addressed apparent concerns made by Sterling that August might be too quick a turnaround, suggesting that people had contacted him claiming that they'd heard 'The Funk Master' didn't want to fight.
Watch Dana White discuss Sterling vs. O'Malley below.
This didn’t sit well with Sterling, who hit back via his podcast, stating that “when I say I’m going to show up, I f*cking show up and I fight” and accusing White of failing to give him the credit he deserved.
Watch Aljamain Sterling’s podcast below.
Since then, the UFC president has once again hit back at his champion in an interview with FanSided MMA.
"First of all, I didn't hear what he said, number one. Number two, I'm not the one who went out and said "if my body holds up" when I'm promoting a fight." said White. "If you're not healthy, don't take the fight. We'll have somebody else fight, and do somebody else for the interim title."
White added:
"What's the first thing that happened? As soon as I was at the press conference I was asked, 'Is Aljamain Sterling really gonna fight or not?' Is that what you want the fans thinking? How is that me not giving him credit? I didn't say anything!"
Watch Dana White's interview with FanSided below.
Given the outspoken nature of both Dana White and Aljamain Sterling, it’s likely that we haven’t heard the end of this one just yet.
Dana White vs. Aljamain Sterling: have the UFC president and bantamweight champ clashed before?
Aljamain Sterling has now held the UFC bantamweight title for over two years, during which he’s defended it successfully on three occasions.
However, ‘The Funk Master’ has not always been on the same page as UFC president Dana White during his reign.
Most notably, White didn’t agree with the judges’ decision to award Sterling the victory in his rematch with former titleholder Petr Yan at UFC 273. White stated that the judges “blew it” by handing ‘The Funk Master’ a split decision win.
“I thought that the judges blew that one. I had it 3-2 the other way. I don’t know how you guys scored it. I guess it’s all in how you score that first round.” [1:55 onwards]
Watch Dana White discuss Sterling vs. Yan 2 below.
This did not sit well with former heavyweight contender Brendan Schaub, who hit out at White, suggesting that he had a “responsibility” and claimed he’d “f*cked (Sterling) over”.