UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] has not fully recovered from his recent neck surgery.
Sterling (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) says he was not medically cleared for his UFC 267 rematch against [autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC), and as a result, he was pulled from the Oct. 30 contest in Abu Dhabi.
Sterling explains that he tried to push through training, but when uncharacteristic fatigue set in, he was concerned and asked for the fight with Yan to be pushed back to the end of the year.
“Let’s clear the air today. I am NOT injured for my real fans, family, and friends that are asking/wondering. To the haters, trying to take away my attention from my teammate, @merab.dvalishvili, to talk about myself and my situation isn’t what I wanted to do.
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Merab looked amazing on Saturday night and had a wicked performance! My situation is complicated. It’s the neck that we’re talking about! This is the BEST I’ve ever felt, waking up in the morning and being able to live life pain-free from nerve issues that’s I’ve had for 10+ years now.
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As always, I like to share the truth and be transparent with my fan base that actually give a shit about fighters health. Training has been going well but I’ve been struggling to get my body to push pass 2 RDs 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!!
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I originally wanted to fight in December but the plans were pushed up earlier. 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.
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I flew in @adrianyanez93 to help with training looks. 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. I will discuss this more on my podcast today @theweeklyscraps. But here’s a quick version of what I’m dealing with. 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. 💯
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#GOMD #RentsDue#UnfinishedBusiness#TheWeeklyScraps! #FunkBandits”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CUVEb3prFMr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Yan was quick to accuse Sterling of running away and doesn’t plan on waiting for him. Instead Yan will remain on the UFC 267 card and a potential interim title is currently being discussed with Cory Sandhagen as the frontrunner to replace Sterling.
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