All eyes are on New Jersey this weekend as Aljamain Sterling returns to the octagon to defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. The ‘Funk Master’ aims to earn his third successful title defence against the returning former two-weight UFC champion & Olympic gold medalist.
Sterling takes on ‘Triple C’ in what many believe to be the peak of his career, having shut doubters out by defeating Petr Yan at UFC 273 before most recently stopping a wounded TJ Dillashaw within two rounds at UFC 280.
However, despite the fight taking place just across the river from his hometown of Uniondale, New York, Aljo this week went into detail as to why he’s unable to compete in his home state.
Aljamain Sterling Explains Why He Can’t Compete in New York
“When I made my UFC debut, February 22, 2014, — I’m a vet man! — at UFC 170, the Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann card, I believe,” Sterling said on The MMA Hour. “I had to get a CAT scan, first time ever getting a CAT scan. They found two spots on my brain, they were like a millimeter or something like that. But, it looked like there was trauma, and they weren’t sure what it was. I forget the exact term, aneurism or angioma or something like that.”
Sterling continued, “In order for me to be cleared, I would’ve had to like go take it out of my head. So, I wasn’t sure if I needed to get like drilled in my head to pull these things out. So they monitored it, they allowed me to fight in Nevada … a couple years after they realized, nothing was happening. They were like, ‘Okay, you’re safe. You’re not bleeding out, you’re not going to die in the cage.’ Knock on wood!
So things were good, and I was allowed to compete in Nevada and all the other states except New York.”
Quotes via MMA Mania
The NYSAC has quite a reputation for differing from other commissions and operating by its own standards. The sport itself was only legalised in the state in March 2016.
Sterling Eyeing O’Malley & Featherweight Championship With a Win Over Cejudo
Aljamain has his sights set on big fights ahead, with plans to dominate and challenge himself before considering what’s next.
“The perfect scenario, I smash Henry, I smash O’Malley, I go up to 145, I fight Volkanovski or Rodriguez, and maybe I defend the belt one time, and I’m done,” Sterling told ESPN. “I think that is the perfect scenario because at that point, what else do I have to prove? I’m going to keep fighting until someone finally beats me? That’s not the mentality I want to go in there with. If I don’t feel like I have something to prove, it doesn’t get me up and excited for it.”
Will Aljamain Sterling retain his UFC bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
