"I thought UFC didn't love me and gave me a knock off belt" - Aljamain Sterling shows gratitude to Dana White after receiving first two rubies on his championship belt
Aljamain Sterling is a happy bantamweight champion after the UFC 'fixed' his championship belt to reflect his two title wins in the division.
The UFC used to hand out a lot of belts, with some champions receiving a new belt for nearly every title defense. In 2019 the promotion created a new 'Legacy' belt and a system to go with it: from now on, fighters would receive an extra ruby on their belt for each title win.
Aljamain Sterling's initial bantamweight title win was steeped in controversy because he won his belt off a flagrant foul from former champion Petr Yan. He legitimized his position as champion in a rematch, beating Yan via split decision at UFC 273.
Now Sterling is celebrating the fact that his belt finally has the proper number of rubies in it. On Twitter he wrote:
"I thought the UFC didn’t love me and gave me a knock off belt, as a 'knock-off' Champion. Thank you Dana White and the UFC staff for fixing my belt, thank Petey Pan for the 2 rubies, and I look forward to collecting one more against the Snake Skinned PILL-PO!"
.I thought the @UFC didn’t love me and gave me a knock off belt, as a “knock-off” Champion 🤣 Thank you @danawhite and the UFC staff for fixing my belt, thank Petey Pan for the 2 Ruby’s, and I look forward to collecting one more against the Snake Skinned PILL-PO!
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#AndStill https://t.co/cnmm3up7DM
There's a misconception that red ruby stones are only added for title defenses. According to an article on UFC.com introducing the new Legacy belt, fighters get a ruby "for each victory in a championship bout."
It's unclear what the issue was with Aljamain Sterling's belt prior to his happy announcement that it was fixed. It sounds like the bantamweight champion was short a ruby, which had left him feeling like the UFC wasn't respecting him as champion.
Aljamain Sterling was angry that Petr Yan got a ruby for winning interim title
Following Sterling's DQ win over Yan, 'The Funkmaster' took a year to get long awaited neck surgery. In the meantime, the UFC created an interim bantamweight title which Petr Yan won.
The Russian interim champion proudly showed off the new ruby on his championship belt, which had Sterling seething. In a podcast with Michael Bisping, he said:
"For what? For what? So if you break the rules, you should get awarded for breaking the rules because what?"
As mentioned earlier, the Legacy belt was designed so the UFC didn't have to keep making new belts. Petr Yan retained the same belt because champions now only get one belt per division they're champion in. He received a ruby because an interim title fight win is still counted as a title fight win.
Considering Aljamain Sterling was dealing with a lack of rubies at the time, it's somewhat understandable that he was upset.