'Some say he's an actor' - Aljamain Sterling leans into heel persona with Petr Yan taunt
Aljamain Sterling is no longer offended by the MMA community criticizing him for "acting out" to win the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 259. Funkmaster recently posted a photo of himself with the championship belt and playfully called himself an actor in the caption while hinting at a rematch with Petr Yan. Sterling also posted a meme photo of himself holding an Oscar to lean into the heel persona given to him by the now-infamous incident.
'Some say he's an actor. Some say he's the champ! Run it back!' Aljamain Sterling wrote.
Aljamain Sterling's bantamweight title fight against former champ Petr Yan ended via disqualification after an illegal knee from Yan rendered Sterling unable to compete. Funkmaster became the first fighter in UFC history to win the championship title via disqualification and left the arena as a champion. Although nobody in the MMA community has disputed the illegitimacy of Yan's move, Aljamain Sterling has been accused of overplaying the damage caused by the illegal knee to score a win by experts and fans alike.
Several people labeled Sterling's actions in the octagon as an Oscar worthy performance and the notion has stuck with the champ in the days that followed.
Aljamain Sterling did not take the 'actor' remarks kindly
Although Aljamain Sterling has come to terms with the sarcasm thrown at him, the champ did not like being tagged as an actor when the internet went abuzz with taunts directed at him. Sterling shared his account of the incident on his own YouTube channel a couple of days after the fight and fired back at the MMA community for calling him fake.
"I fought my a** off the entire time, and I was not going to quit in that fight. I was going to take my lickings or find a way to persevere or find a way to win like a man... because that’s just what I do. I don’t have the quit in me. There’s no quit button when I’m in there. You guys might find it easy and talk about the Oscars and everything. You guys are the actors, and it might be a reflection of your own spirits or whatever," Aljamain Sterling said.
Sterling has similarly leaned into the heel persona that TJ Dillashaw and Colby Covington have also had in the past. The acting narrative is probably going to stick with him for a long time and become a focal point of trash-talking in the potential rematch with Petr Yan.