Aljamain Sterling criticizes Cory Sandhagen’s win over Rob Font at UFC Nashville
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling criticized Cory Sandhagen’s recent win over Rob Font in the main event of UFC Nashville.
Sandhagen used his wrestling to completely dominate Font and win a clear-cut 50-45 decision on all three judges’ scorecards at UFC Nashville last weekend. However, while it was a shutout performance for Sandhagen on the scorecards, the fans in attendance booed the fight for being “boring.” Although the champion of the division, Sterling, is a wrestler himself, he thinks Sandhagen didn’t have an exciting fight.
Speaking to ESPN following UFC Nashville, Sterling gave his honest thoughts on Sandhagen vs. Font.
“Honestly, respectfully, it was a sh*t fight. Cory did what he had to do to win, so I respect that. Font definitely needs to pick up on his grappling to escape, give up your back, go to all fours, something. You can’t just sit down on your back and kind of just lay there hoping for a submission. It doesn’t work like that – not at this level. I think that kind of showed myself and Merab (Dvalishvili) that there’s levels to this. There’s a reason why we’re at the top,” Sterling said (via MMAjunkie.com).
Asked if he thinks Sandhagen should move up the rankings based on the win over Font, Sterling disagreed.
“I think he stays right where he is. Unfortunately, injury is part of sport. I can’t take anything away from him. Obviously tearing a tricep is a big thing. I’ve torn my bicep before. I’ve got a partially torn one, also. I know what it’s like to deal with injuries in a fight. I just think he could have done a little bit more on top. Your tricep doesn’t stop you from dropping elbows. It doesn’t stop you from punching. There’s levels to this, and respect to him for implementing grappling now to his arsenal – but there’s levels,” Sterling said.
Do you agree with the criticism that Aljamain Sterling levied at Cory Sandhagen for his recent win over Rob Font at UFC Nashville?
