UFC News: Lingering injury costs Aljamain Sterling huge fight; undergoes surgery despite disapproval from NYSAC

The rumors of a fight between Aljamain Sterling and Frankie Edgar was getting stronger every day when a social media post from the former doused all the hopes that fans had.

On Tuesday, Sterling took to Instagram to not only announce the wrist surgery he underwent, but also confirmed that he was offered a bout with Edgar at the Madison Square Garden event on November 2.

MMA Fighting reported on the matter.

Sterling shares his thoughts on the situation

The “Funk Master” explained in his post that the wrist injury for which the surgery was needed was not a new one, but rather a two-year-old tear in the Scapholunate ligament. But he kept pushing his limits instead of letting the injury recover, and he was going to do the same against Edgar as well.

However, the New York State Athletic Commission was not too happy with the condition of his wrist and therefore did not clear the Brooklyn-native for the UFC 244 fight in his hometown.

View this post on Instagram

For the last 2 years, I’ve been dealing with a Scapholunate ligament tear in my wrist. Depending how bad you let the injury get can weaken/affect your grip strength, reduces the weight you can lift, the pressure you can put on it, and over time gets extremely painful to do daily activities, like washing my back and my ass! 😅💀 - I kept pushing through the injurys’ limits and telling the doctors that I would be fine with not getting surgery. 💁🏾‍♀️ Recently I was offered a HUGE fight, so I was going to push the limits again, despite having less strength than my left hand (I’m right-handed) to fight the legend, Frankie “The Answer” Edgar, at @thegarden!! - Unfortunately, the NYSAC wouldn’t approve me in time to fight at home for Nov. 2nd. Although the wrist pain got significantly worse from fighting Pedro Munhoz, I was really disappointed, but recognized that maybe this was Gods plan for me. I’ve been searching for clarity or a sign...maybe this was it... Either way, I was ready to risk it all again for a dream come true fight against a legend in my hometown!! I risked it before, right? So why not do it again, as my homecoming to FINALLY fight at home?! - That was my mindset and sometimes us fighters are our worst enemies. Us fighters NEVER fight at 100% anyway, which is why we are, who we are that live this life and do crazy shit that we do! All for a moment of glory, that could last a LIFETIME! 💯 Thank you to @seanshelby @danawhite and everyone on the @UFC medical team for taking care of me. And my manager, Lloyd, and girlfriend @rebeccacruise for coming and being here for me 🙏🏾 • #FunkStillGotNext! #RoadToRecovery #Surgery #Scapholunate #Ligament #UFC #ESPN #DrHotchkiss #NYC #HSS #LookAtTheFlickOfThatWrist #MSG #TheWeeklyScraps

A post shared by Aljamain Sterling (@funkmaster_ufc) on Sep 24, 2019 at 9:32am PDT

As Sterling says, the injury most certainly got even worse after his UFC 238 fight against Pedro Munhoz, which he won via Unanimous Decision and took his current streak of victories to four. Previous to this, he has fought and won against the likes of Jimmie Rivera, Cody Stamann and Brett Johns.

However, Sterling also acknowledges in the post about the excessive pushing not being the best of ideas.

“That was my mindset and sometimes us fighters are our worst enemies. Us fighters NEVER fight at 100% anyway, which is why were are, who we are that live this life and do crazy s*** that we do! All for a moment of glory, that could last a LIFETIME!”

He also thanked Dana White, Sean Shelby, the UFC medical team, his manager and his girlfriend for being there for him during this time.

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