Aljamain Sterling Admits He Accepted UFC 292 Title Defense ‘Against My Will’

If it seems like Aljamain
Sterling is making a relatively quick turnaround in comparison
to some of the other UFC champions, well, “The Funkmaster” agrees
with that sentiment.

After defending his bantamweight title in a five-round bout against
Henry
Cejudo at UFC 288 on May 6, Sterling will return to action on
Aug. 19 in the UFC 292 main event against Sean
O’Malley.

“People don’t understand how much time I actually put into this
sport,” Sterling said on his podcast
(transcription via
MMAjunkie.com). “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.

“I had that just kind of ripped from underneath my legs. Now I’m
like, ‘OK, this time you motherf—kers 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.”

Sterling’s list of injuries has been well documented in recent
months, and he would have preferred a little more time to get
closer to full health. The Serra-Longo Fight Team product pointed
out that UFC 288 foe Cejudo pulled out of a proposed booking
against Marlon Vera
on the same card.

“Like I said, I still have injuries that I’m still nursing to this
day, and I’m not going to stop saying that,” Sterling said. “People
can get mad at me. ‘You’re disclosing that you’re not 100 percent
healthy.’ No one is 100 percent healthy going into a fight, and
clearly I just fought.

“Henry just pulled out of a fight because he’s not 100 percent
healthy. I wonder why that happened. … Behind the scenes, (UFC
executives) have their ways to kind of make you, ‘OK, I’m going to
do this for you guys again, even though I’m not going to get any
thank yous for it.’”