Aljamain Sterling has been pressured out of his upcoming combat in opposition to Movsar Evloev at UFC 307 in Salt Lake Metropolis on Oct. 5 after struggling an damage in coaching.
The previous bantamweight champion, who’s now competing at 145 kilos, revealed the information in a video posted to his YouTube channel on Wednesday.
“Sadly, I’ve to interrupt the information I can’t be competing in Salt Lake Metropolis at UFC 307,” Sterling mentioned. “In sparring, I had an damage not requiring surgical procedure, however I used to be suggested by the UFC medical workers that I won’t be able to correctly compete on this in need of a turnaround.
“I did the stem cells. I took day without work. I attempted to rehab it as a lot as I can, as greatest as I can with the [UFC Performance Institute] workforce right here, and sadly, it’s out of my palms now. I apologize to Movsar and his workforce. We’ve been speaking and I used to be actually trying ahead to punching this man in his face.”
Sources confirmed to MMA Preventing that Sterling suffered an elbow damage that gained’t require him to have surgical procedure, however he wasn’t responding to remedy sufficient to danger preventing in October.
Whereas it’s anticipated that Sterling might return earlier than the top of the yr, there’s no likelihood he would be capable of combat at UFC 307.
As of now, the UFC hasn’t rebooked Evloev in opposition to a special opponent however Sterling hopes the combat might simply be pushed again to a later date, though he gained’t fault the undefeated Russian for shifting on after their matchup was cancelled.
“Movsar, if you happen to nonetheless actually wish to punch this good-looking face, I put the problem out to you to push the combat again and wait,” Sterling mentioned. “Look forward to daddy. I shall be again quickly. Presumably do that in December. That’s just about all I bought.
“When you resolve to not wait, I can respect that additionally since you’re attempting to combat for a belt, as am I. The one approach to do this is to undergo one another.”
It’s an unlucky loss for the UFC 307 card however clearly worse for Sterling after he hoped to beat Evloev after which place himself for an opportunity to doubtlessly combat for the featherweight title. Now he’ll have to attend and see what the UFC decides concerning his subsequent combat.
As for UFC 307, the cardboard nonetheless strikes ahead with a pair of title fights on the prime of the invoice with Alex Pereira defending his gentle heavyweight championship in opposition to Khalil Rountree Jr. in the principle occasion whereas Raquel Pennington places her bantamweight belt up for grabs going through former champion Julianna Pena.
Replace: Evloev responded to the Sterling information on X.
I see Aljamain introduced on his YouTube channel that he’s out of the combat. I’ve been coaching for 4 months and wish to keep on this card and combat anyone, I’m unsure if the UFC can discover somebody to combat me however I labored actually arduous for this combat
— Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC) September 18, 2024
