Aljamain Sterling says taking upcoming UFC 292 title fight is “literally against my will”
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling says that taking his upcoming UFC 292 title fight is “literally against my will.”
Sterling just beat Henry Cejudo back at UFC 288 in May, and it wasn’t long after that he was booked against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in August. Originally, we had heard that Sterling wanted to take some time off after beating Cejudo, but the UFC booked him very quickly into his next title fight. Although at first Sterling was not committed to the fight, he eventually signed off on the booking.
However, while the champ may have taken the fight, he is now saying he took it against his will. Speaking on his podcast, Sterling delved into his emotions heading into his upcoming title fight.
“People don’t understand how much time I actually put into this sport. Sometimes you could get a little burned out. Sometimes that can take a lot out of you mentally. That’s why, after this fight, I had so much things with Henry, so many things planned out, that I just wanted to decompress and stop thinking about fighting for once because I do so much to get to the fight and prep myself to mentally get ready for battle,” Sterling said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“I had that just kind of ripped from underneath my legs. Now I’m like, ‘OK, this time you motherf*ckers are not doing this to me again.’ I’m going to fight, even though it’s literally against my will. People can say whatever – if Dana (White) were to hear this, Hunter (Campbell) were to hear this, they would say, ‘We’re not making him do anything.’ Let’s be real here, bro. Come on, dude. You kind of are. Let’s call a spade a spade.”
Do you think Aljamain Sterling will defeat Sean O’Malley at UFC 292, or do you see an upset here?
