Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili have been friends for a long time and UFC fans are well aware of their camaraderie. The former Bantamweight king and the Georgian even train in the same place at Serra-Longo, in Long Island, New York. So you can be sure that the bantamweight fighter is going to vouch for his former champ and friend at all times. Ahead of Dvalishvili’s fight against, Sterling’s former opponent, ‘The Machine’ opened up about Sterling’s past struggles. His interview with Kevin Iole was all about UFC  306 and spilling the beans on UFC’s treatment of his dear friend.

The 17-4-0 combatant who won against Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 is coming back to the octagon against Sean O’Malley. Now the thing is, he is facing an opponent who has already defeated his friend, at UFC 292 via KO. While speaking to Kevin Iole for UFC 306 Dvalishvili described how he is preparing for the mega fight to take the belt from ‘Sugar’ who has been the champ for just over a year now. This moment is almost like a redemption for his friend who lost the title to O’Malley.

Iole asked Dvalishvili about the past and how ‘Aljo’ held up during the fight. He asked, “ How difficult was it on Aljo when he got ready to fight O’Malley, to get into the kind of shape he wanted, given what he had to do to his body to get make 135 lbs?” The combatant candidly answered about the hardships Aljamain Sterling went through. He said, “Yes, I agree with you. ‘Aljo’ was very tired of gaining weight, and he was very busy. I think he fought 13 months three times for five rounds. He was gonna take a bit off. After he beat Henry Cejudo, he was going to take a long time off.”

Dvalishvili further stated how the UFC treated the former champ and said, “But they push him and he has to come back in a couple of months and he was just tired. He was not mentally there. That’s how I see he was rushing.” Sterling’s two-year-long reign as the undisputed 135 lbs champ came to an end when O’Malley made him go to sleep at UFC 292. However, there were later revelations that ‘Funk Master’ was not in the perfect shape to fight his opponent that day. Just like his friend mentioned, the UFC had gone all in, to try and convince Sterling to take the fight.

Sterling had already won against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 and was not ready to put his title up for grabs so soon. The former champion was vocal about the issues with UFC and said that his recovery time was not a concern for the matchmakers, especially Dana White. Unfortunately, the promotion did not change their decision and he had to fight against O’Malley in a very short period. What else had happened after he lost to ‘Sugar’? Let’s go down the memory lane and see for ourselves.

Aljamain Sterling exposed UFC after he lost his title

It is pretty clear by now that Sterling never got the favor of the UFC CEO or the promotion at large. Just like his friend mentioned, he also revealed that he got the short end of the stick and was not given proper recovery time. His words became more evident when ‘Fight Inc: Inside the UFC by Roku’, was released and we witnessed Hunter Campbell trying to convince him to take up the fight against Sean O’Malley. This was even when the promotion knew he was going through tough after-effects from the fight at UFC 288. He might have taken the fight under pressure and ultimately lost his belt.

Sterling explained how he felt about the revelation – “I know. We’ve seen the video circulating all over social media—it’s a conversation between myself, my management, and Hunter. I wasn’t excited to see that clip again because it made me relive all those emotions,”

Sterling further added that, according to the series of events, he had just fought inside the octagon. He had a really hard training camp to make that weight cut, and still managed to win the fight against Cejudo. Even though he did find victory, the whole ordeal took a mental toll on him and he wanted some rest. But the promotion decided otherwise.

This decision of the promotion cost him his belt but now his friend can avenge him by winning it from ‘Sugar’. Do you think ‘The Machine’ will be able to acquire the title at UFC 306?