Aljamain
Sterling has been doing his best to prepare for a bantamweight
title rematch against Petr Yan at
UFC 267, but training hasn’t been going according to plan after
the champ underwent neck surgery earlier this year.
“The Funk Master” took to Instagram to share the lingering issues
he has dealt with in camp as a result of that procedure. It was
reported over the weekend that Sterling had
withdrawn from the Oct. 30 rematch with Yan.
“As always, I like to share the truth and be transparent with my
fan base that actually give a shit about fighters’ health,”
Sterling wrote. “Training has been going well but I’ve been
struggling to get my body to push pass [two rounds] in sparring
sessions. The fatigue that sets in and the cramping still lingers,
which my surgeon said is due to the nerves still recovering from
the long-term trauma, and surgery I just had. Nothing I can do
about that, other than show up in another shell of myself and risk
wasting the surgery and maybe getting severely hurt!!”
Sterling, who claimed bantamweight gold when Yan landed an illegal
knee in the fourth round of their first bout at UFC 259 on March 6,
initially wanted the rematch to happen in December after he had
surgery in April to repair a herniated disc in his neckl that had
plagued him since his collegiate wrestling days. When the promotion
pushed for the fight to be on the UFC 267 card, Sterling did his
best to get ready for that date.
“I originally wanted to fight in December but the plans were pushed
up earlier,” Sterling wrote. “Unfortunately, my body isn’t agreeing
with me and I asked for an extension and asked for Petr Yan to
wait, so that I will be the first man in the UFC to beat his
ass.
The promotion is reportedly in talks to book Yan in an interim
title bout against Cory
Sandhagen, although that fight has yet to be finalized.
Sterling revealed that he has brought in Adrian
Yanez as a gauge to see if he could be ready by Oct. 30. For
now, it appears that the UFC has moved on from the fight.
“I flew in Adrian
Yanez to help with training looks,” Sterling wrote. “I want to
see how this week goes and see if overtraining was the real issue
for all the fatigue, since I was playing physical “catch-up” for
fighting much sooner than expected.
“Thankfully the UFC team understands how serious spine surgery can
be and are allowing me the extra time to get my body right so that
there are NO EXCUSES when I fight again.”