Aljamain Sterling gives six-word reaction to Kayla Harrison's manager pitching him as her next opponent
Aljamain Sterling made a successful jump to featherweight as he defeated Calvin Kattar via unanimous decision on the preliminary card of UFC 300. In the bout prior to Sterling, Kayla Harrison had a successful promotional debut as she defeated Holly Holm via second-round submission.
Harrison's manager Ali Abdelaziz recently suggested the names of Sterling or Merab Dvalishvili as her next opponent, drawing a reaction from the 'Funk Master'. Speaking to Kacper Rosolowski and Denis Shkuratov of Submission Radio, Abdelaziz said:
"Merab or Aljamain Sterling. I think it's a very competitive fight. It's not fair, honestly, because if none of these girls want to fight her, let's fight somebody else. 135, Rob Font, I think her wrestling is too good for Rob Font. It's not even a fair fight, but maybe this Brazilian guy, the former champion.
"I think she'll smash all these guys, honestly, because none of these females, they're going to want to fight her, especially after what she did to Holly and I think let's make her fight some men and I believe she can beat all those guys I just mentioned."
Sterling responded by laughing the suggestion off, stating:
"🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m not signing up for that!"
Check out Aljamain Sterling's response to Ali Abdelaziz's comments below:
While Harrison showed plenty of promise in her UFC debut, Abdelaziz is likely getting ahead of himself suggesting she can prevail over Sterling or Dvalishvili.
'Funk Master' is a former UFC champion, while 'The Machine' is the top-ranked contender and seemingly next in line for a title shot. Furthermore, Dana White is unlikely to ever agree to such a bout.
Aljamain Sterling was persuaded to take Sean O'Malley fight
Aljamain Sterling defended his bantamweight title for the third time when he defeated Henry Cejudo via split decision at UFC 288 last May. He returned just three months later at UFC 292, losing his title to Sean O'Malley via second-round TKO. UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell had to persuade 'Funk Master' to make a quick turnaround for the bout.
The new Roku series Fight Inc: Inside the UFC showed how that conversation went, with Campbell stating:
"I just want you and I to be on the same page, which is if you don't want to fight, 'Aljo', you don't have to fight. I'm not forcing you to f**king fight... I can tell you during your f**king peak, you've looked incredible and it's just this opportunity for you to take his audience that he has built in and introduce you to them, but instead of using the platform and the increased media coverage, it's almost like you're working against it."
Check out Hunter Campbell convincing Aljamain Sterling to return at UFC 292 below:
The decision to make a quick turnaround did not pay off for Sterling, who lost his title and moved to the featherweight division. O'Malley will likely face 'Funk Master's close friend Merab Dvalishvili in his second title defense later this year.