Aljamain Sterling revealed that he injured his back in the training camp just three weeks before his rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 273.
Following his controversial victory in his first outing with Yan, he received a lot of heat and criticism. That’s why he was determined to win the rematch at UFC 273. Sterling finally silenced the critics by winning a split decision over Petr Yan.
The UFC Bantamweight champion recently posted a video clip on his Instagram showing how he hurt his back during the training camp.
“The theme of my fight camp was ‘Just make it to the fight in one-piece’. I didn’t wanna have the Yan-stans talking shit about me pulling out of the fight. This happened just 3 weeks before the fight night that I mentioned on the @arielhelwani show. ‘I broke my back… Spinal!'”
Watch the video below:
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In the clip, ‘Funk Master’ was seen practicing a standing rear-naked choke on his sparring partner. They wobbled a little and after that the champ finally made his sparring partner tap, but then they both crashed at the side of the cage with Sterling’s back hitting the mat and taking all of the impacts.
Sterling was seen screaming in pain afterward, but he kept on going and managed to push through the pain to go another round. However, Aljamin has had several such injuries and surgeries before their second matchup, which resulted in him pulling out from the fight. That’s why he was so determined to make to the rematch to finally defeat Yan without any excuses.
The ‘Funk Master’ also explained that his biggest motivation was the haters and trolls, and he couldn’t wait to finally silence the “Yan-stans.” Following the caption, Sterling wrote:
“The guys told me to pretend Yan hit me with another illegal strike and to push through the round. That post hit me right on the spine as I was pulling backward on the RNC finish. Btw that wasn’t me making that weird sound.”
Aljamain Sterling Is Open to Fight Petr Yan for the Third Time
After the rematch at UFC 273, Petr Yan demanded a third fight against Aljamain Sterling. Both of their previous outings resulted in a controversial ending, and so Yan believes that he deserves another shot.
Following his victory at UFC 273, Sterling has already called out T.J. Dillashaw as his next challenger, but he said he’s still open to win a trilogy with the Russian. In a recent interview, the champ said:
“If he wants to be 0-3 against ‘The Funk,’ we can make it happen. If you look at his record, two of those losses are from me. So if he wants a third, we can do it again.”
The ‘Funk Master’ said that he is looking to take a break. Since his first outing with Yan, he was on the receiving end of a tremendous amount of hate and backlash. But after the victory at UFC 273, the bantamweight champion is planning to take some time off to relax and celebrate until the time comes for him to come back in action.