Will UFC President Dana White Sack Two MMA Superstars For Being Friends?

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It seems that a controversy has emerged between UFC President Dana White and two superstar friends, Aljermain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili, following Sterling’s unexpected loss to O’Malley. The superstars’ next steps might decide whether they would be removed from the UFC. Here’s a breakdown of the situation:

Aljermain Sterling’s Loss: Aljermain Sterling, the former bantamweight champion, suffered a defeat against O’Malley in a TKO that has generated controversy. Sterling believes the fight was stopped prematurely and has since requested an immediate rematch. He has been vocal about his belief that the match was ended too early.

Aljermain Sterling (lying) fights With O’Malley

Desire to Avoid Facing Each Other: Sterling and Dvalishvili, who are close friends, have not expressed their lack of interest in facing each other in the octagon. But it appears that they would prefer to avoid a potential matchup against each other.

Dana White’s Perspective: On the other hand, UFC President Dana White seems to have a different opinion. He desires to see Sterling and Dvalishvili face off in the octagon, despite their translucent reluctance. It was not clear why White is pushing for this particular matchup till he made the following statements:

Everybody in this room and everybody that watches this video knows how I feel about this sh*t. Yeah, I hate it and if that’s – why did you even get into this sport if that’s your mentality in the way that you think? ‘I don’t even want the title. I don’t even want the championship. We’re friends, we’re this, we’re that,’ he said. ‘This is not – you could be friends with everybody in this business. There’s a lot of nice people in this business. A lot of good people. This is not about friendship.

This about finding out who the best in the world is. And if you don’t want to find out who the best in the world is, this is not the place for you. You should be somewhere else. There’s plenty of places to fight where they don’t give a sh*t what you do. Doesn’t work here.

Both Aljermain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili have expressed their thoughts on the situation regarding the bantamweight belt and their future plans. Here’s a breakdown of their statements:

Aljermain Sterling’s Response: Sterling directly addressed UFC President Dana White through his Instagram handle.

Sterling via Instagram

Dvalishvili believes that he is the number one contender after Sterling. He pointed out his impressive nine-fight winning streak and recent victories over former champions. Dvalishvili expresses his preference for a rematch between Sterling and O’Malley, with the intention that Sterling regains the belt. In the event that Sterling vacates the belt or takes a break, Dvalishvili is willing to fight for the title against the next available contender.

After Aljamain Sterling, I am the No. 1 contender. We all know that. I have a nine-fight winning streak and I beat two former champions back to back. I fought everybody who they put in front of me. … I think the right way is that Aljo comes back, beat O’Malley, get his belt back, and I think after that he may go up a weight class.

Merab Dvalishvili

If he vacates the belt and takes a vacation or something, I will fight for the belt with whoever will be next. Now, I don’t want to rush. I just don’t want any stupid fight, you know, because the fight doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to fight somebody that has a loss. What does this fight get me?

I want to fight the top guys. I don’t want to test, I’m tested already. I proved it. My last opponents I dominated. … I’m the next guy after Aljo. So a good way would be to give Aljo a rematch and after that, I’m just going to wait for my title fight, and we’ll figure it out after. But I’m just going to fight for the title next – even if I have to wait a year or more.

Both Sterling and Dvalishvili had initially planned for Sterling to move up to the featherweight division after defeating O’Malley, with Dvalishvili intending to follow suit.

It seems that both fighters have a clear vision of their desired paths and are expressing their intentions to the public. Their statements highlight their ambitions to fight top-ranked opponents and secure title opportunities. The final decisions regarding matchups and future plans will ultimately be determined by the UFC and its president, Dana White.