Aljamain
Sterling has been forced to pull out of a proposed
featherweight booking against Movsar
Evloev at UFC
307.
Advertisement
The ex-bantamweight champion announced the news via YouTube on
Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, I have to break the news I will not be competing in
Salt Lake City at UFC 307,” Sterling said. “In sparring, I had an
injury not requiring surgery, but I was advised by the UFC medical
staff that I will not be able to properly compete in this short of
a turnaround.
“I did the stem cells. I took time off. I tried to rehab it as much
as I can, as best as I can with the [UFC Performance Institute]
team here, and unfortunately, it’s out of my hands now. I apologize
to Movsar and his team. We’ve been talking and I was really looking
forward to punching this guy in his face.”
While Sterling did not specify the nature of the injury, MMAFighting.com is reporting that an elbow
issue caused “Funkmaster” to withdraw from the event. Sterling
proposed that Evloev wait until later this year for the UFC to
rebook their fight.
“Movsar, if you still really want to punch this handsome face, I
put the challenge out to you to push the fight back and wait,”
Sterling said. “Wait for daddy. I will be back soon. Possibly do
this in December. That’s pretty much all I got.
“If you decide not to wait, I can respect that also because you’re
trying to fight for a belt, as am I. The only way to do that is to
go through each other.”
Evloev, however, would prefer to remain on the Oct. 7 card against
a replacement opponent if possible.
“I see Aljamain announced on his YouTube channel that he is out of
the fight,” Evloev wrote on X. “I’ve been training for [four]
months and would like to stay on this card and fight anybody, I’m
not sure if the UFC can find someone to fight me but I worked
really hard for this fight.”
I see Aljamain announced on his YouTube
channel that he is out of the fight. I’ve been training for 4
months and would like to stay on this card and fight anybody, I’m
not sure if the UFC can find someone to fight me but I worked
really hard for this fight— Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC)
September 18, 2024
Sterling made his 145-pound debut at UFC 300, where he took a
unanimous decision against Calvin
Kattar on April 13.
Evloev is undefeated in 18 professional outings, including eight
consecutive decision victories in UFC competition. The 30-year-old
Russian is coming off a three-round verdict over Arnold
Allen at UFC 297.