UFC featherweight Aljamain Sterling, and teammate of bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, is worried that his friend got rushed into a title defense against the dangerous Umar Nurmagomedov too soon after winning the belt.
“Let’s be honest. This fight’s getting made on 6 weeks notice I think? Maybe 6-and-a-half? For a title fight? I understand having to do that if you’re a challenger,” Sterling told Ariel Helwani on Tuesday.
“As a champion you shouldn’t be relegated to those types of stipulations. It’s just not right.”
Dvalishvili (18-4) defeated Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 by unanimous decision in the main event. UFC 306, also known as Noche UFC, was in September. UFC 311 takes place on Jan 18 which is about 6 weeks from when the fight was agreed to.
“Then it leaves a bad taste in your mouth as in why did I work so hard to get to this position to call the shots, or some of the shots, and you’re not even getting a fair shake in it,” he said.
End of the day Sterling knows the UFC will push to do what they want to do. It’s up to the fighters to say yes or no.
“They’re going to do what they want to do. They’re going to press the buttons that they want in the sense of trying to get the fights that they want made when they want it. It’s not like Merab doesn’t want to fight Umar. It was all about the time table,” Sterling said.
“Hopefully we go out there, knock on wood, Merab does his thing. He takes his 0, puts on a great performance, and we can move on from this. Onto the next.”
