Watch: Aljamain Sterling proudly shows off his bantamweight title to haters
Aljamain Sterling won't shy away from turning into a heel to silence trolls on social media.
Following his championship win over Petr Yan at UFC 259, Sterling became the subject of public condemnation due to the latter's disqualification. Despite the backlash from his haters, Aljo proudly flaunts his new belt publicly.
In an interview with Sirius XM, the 31-year-old addressed a picture of himself that started doing the rounds over social media after his UFC 259 coronation. Sterling explained that the photograph was posted by one of his acquaintances.
Ruffled by the MMA community's reaction to his victory against Petr Yan due to an illegal strike, 'Funk Master' now vows to show off his championship belt flagrantly.
"I just love trolling everybody now. I got crucified for something I didn't even do. 'Oh, you posted pictures with the belt.' Did I post the pictures or did my teammate post the pictures? Guess what? You guys have a problem with it? Now, I'm going to put in your face every single chance I get," said Aljamain Sterling.
Furthermore, Aljamain Sterling claims to have donned the heel persona to avert the hate he has been receiving on social media of late.
"The real ones know what's up and I engage with those guys mostly. You've got to take it with a grain of salt, otherwise, you will be sitting up responding to everybody, downed and depressed," added Aljamain Sterling.
Aljamain Sterling reveals he was not in prime shape coming into UFC 259
In April this year, Aljamain Sterling announced he was slated to undergo neck surgery. Sterling revealed that he would have to stay out of action for a while to return pain-free to the octagon.
The DQ victory over Yan appears to be a blessing in disguise for Sterling as the power to call the shots now rests with the New York native:
"I feel great, I'm finally pain-free. I got the title. I get pay-per-view points now. Like, I did not think this was going to work out like that...God almost gave me a second chance to redo this fight because of how hard I worked and one little mistake."
Sterling also alluded to why he appeared out of his game throughout the four rounds against Yan. The champion claims he went into the fight with an empty stomach:
"In the morning time, doing the morning shakeout, eating at 10:30 AM and having two pancakes and two eggs going into a world title fight at 8:30 at night...that was the stupidest thing you could've done," added Aljamain Sterling.
Watch Aljamain Sterling's interview with Sirius XM below: