Nostalgic Aljamain Sterling reminisces back-and-forth fight on debut with TUF 31 fighter

This week saw the debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler. Judging by his Twitter account, one interested observer was UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

The 31st season of the reality show, TUF: Team McGregor vs. Team Chandler features a new format. It sees Conor McGregor leading a team of eight UFC rookies against Michael Chandler’s eight UFC veterans in the bantamweight and lightweight divisions.

One of the season’s bantamweight veterans is Cody Gibson, something that clearly struck a chord with Sterling. ‘The Funk Master’ edged out ‘The Renegade’ in 2014 in what was the octagon debut for both men, inspiring his Twitter post today:

"Where has the time gone?? Throwback face-off pic with @TheRenegade559 and I, from our UFC debut fight back in February 2014. He's currently on this season of #TUF31! Do you guys remember this back and forth fight?"

.Where has the time gone?? Throwback face-off pic of @TheRenegade559 and I, from our @UFC debut fight back in February 2014. He’s currently on this season of #TUF31! Do you guys remember this back and forth fight?
•
#TBT #FullCircle #UFC170 https://t.co/3q3lkI95jn

While Aljamain Sterling was happy to label the fight a “back-and-forth” one, to say that the two men headed in separate trajectories following it would be an understatement.

‘The Funk Master’ won ten of his next 13 fights, and ended up winning the bantamweight title in early 2021. He has since defended it successfully on three occasions, most recently edging out former titleholder Henry Cejudo.

#ANDSTILL BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!

@FunkMasterMMA with the split decision over Henry Cejudo at #UFC288! https://t.co/nUrECCcwtT

Gibson, on the other hand, defeated Johnny Bedford via KO in his second trip to the octagon. However, he followed that with back-to-back losses to Manny Gamburyan and Douglas Silva de Andrade, and was released from the promotion shortly after.

Since then, he has gone 7-2, most recently defeating fellow UFC veteran Francisco Rivera last November.

Gibson has yet to fight on TUF 31, but he has been matched with Mando Gutierrez in the quarter-finals of the bantamweight bracket.

This week’s fight, meanwhile, saw octagon veteran Roosevelt Roberts need just eight seconds to take out Team McGregor’s Nate Jennerman in the lightweight bracket.

Roosevelt Roberts secures the win in less than 10 SECONDS 😤 #TUF31 https://t.co/sjPpL0JApU

Aljamain Sterling next fight: When is ‘The Funk Master’ fighting Sean O’Malley?

Aljamain Sterling defeated Henry Cejudo to defend his UFC bantamweight title less than a month ago, edging ‘Triple C’ out via split decision.

Despite this, ‘The Funk Master’ has already been booked into his next title defense. Last month saw Dana White announce that Sterling will be facing top contender Sean O’Malley in the headliner of UFC 292, which will take place in Boston on August 19.

UFC 292 set for Aug. 19 in Boston, Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley headlines mmafighting.com/2023/5/16/2372… https://t.co/biDPvu7LFc

Initially, this didn’t seem to sit well with Aljamain Sterling, who stated that he was banged up from the Cejudo fight and would have to wait to see how his body was holding up before he could face ‘Sugar’.

This triggered a brief war of words between White and Sterling, although cooler heads now seem to have prevailed, meaning that ‘The Funk Master’ will almost certainly be heading to Boston to face O’Malley in two months’ time.