UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, like most other athletes in MMA, cuts weight to make it to the divisional weight limit. In his case, it’s 135 pounds, a long way down from his walking-around weight. When title challenger Marlon “Chito” Vera recently called Sterling a “p*ssy” for supposedly cutting down from “170, 180 pounds”, and claimed that’s why the champ had, in the past, been “KO’d unconscious”. Sterling took to his own podcast to fire back at the challenger, and clarify a few dubious claims.
First of all, Sterling’s knockout loss to Marlon Moraes had very little to do with how much or how little weight he was losing.
Sterling Fires Back at Chito Vera “P***sy” Insult
“I’ve literally ran face-first into a knee against Marlon Moraes and I got faceplanted. Chito, [Dominick Cruz], Frankie [Edgar], [Adrian] Yanez, Merab [Dvalishvili], Umar [Nurmagomedov], [Cody] Gardbrant — the whole bantamweight division can go do the same exact thing — and get hit on the same exact spot from the force of a kick like that, and I guarantee you, you are sleeping. What are we even talking about? How are you even comparing that to ‘that’s why he’s been KO’d unconscious?’
That was a very particular event, a sequence of events, that led to the KO’d unconscious. So, we’ve got to stop right there, it’s not the same argument. It’s not like we’re in an exchange and I get hit and I’m going down. We can see that with the [Petr] Yan fight, we can see that in the [Pedro] Munhoz fight.
I still kept coming forward. I don’t know what we’re talking about here, Chito.” Sterling went on to question Vera’s entire approach to his outside-the-Octagon persona.
““Is ‘Chito’ the tough, badass gangster that almost tries to dress like he’s a west coast gangster, versus the nice guy who’s super polite? Yeah, we’re in the same weight class, but I’m like, which one are you? You’re trying to be two different people.
I really don’t give a s*** which one you want to be toward me. Like if I see you in person and you walk past me and you put your hand out and you give me this death stare at the same time you put your hand out. What, do you want to feel my soul, are you searching for something? Are you trying to intimidate me?
I get it bro, you fight people for a living. That’s really cool and super badass, you’re like the only person I know that ever does anything that. You fight people. You have to be the toughest person on this planet, right? I don’t know which side of the fence you’re on here, buddy. You’ve got to pick one. We don’t [have] be best friends, you don’t got to be a d***. And we can be best friends, or you can be a d***.
Which one do you want? I don’t get it. You’re confusing me.”
