Aljemain Sterling continues to try to dodge the rematch with Peter Yan.
The other day, the reigning bantamweight champion said that he had already rejected the first offer of the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC) to fight the challenger, and in the near future he intends to deal with the treatment of old injuries.
According to him, in this case, he will be able to return to active training in at least four to six months, and then revenge itself should be expected in more than nine months.
However, such a development of the situation is unlikely to suit both the leadership of the promotion and the Russian, who called for the American to be deprived of his title.
The duel between Ian and Sterling became one of the loudest in early 2021.
The forbidden blow of the Russian fighter, as well as the decision of the judges to give the American the victory and the title made the fight extremely resonant.
Previously, the UFC never passed the belt if the champion lost by disqualification, and such an outcome was clearly not to the liking of Dana White.
Immediately after the end of the show, he announced the immediate granting of a rematch to Peter.
The incident that arose at the next tournament of the Absolute Fighting Championship - UFC Vegas 21 added fuel to the fire. Eric Anders almost completely reproduced Ian's blow in a fight with Darren Stewart - the opponent was at three points and was considered lying at the moment when he got a knee in the head.
However, this time the judges decided not to award the victory to the victim, but to declare the duel invalid.
It would seem that all this was the perfect seed for a rematch between Ian and Sterling, but a month has passed, and the contract for the fight has not been signed.
At the same time, Peter repeatedly spoke of his readiness to enter the octagon, while Aljemain began to look for ways of retreat.
At first, he expressed the opinion that the management of the promotion should punish the Russian and not allow him to immediately get the opportunity to regain his belt, and then completely stated that he plans to devote himself to taking care of his own health in the near future.
“I'm a little out of shape.
Long-standing problems of ten years ago.
They just started to progress with each training camp.
Now I am at the stage that I may need surgery, muscle weakness in my arm.
If the muscles somehow miraculously don't heal so that I can do push-ups and pull-ups again, I don’t know what else I have to do other than surgery, ”Sterling said.
According to the fighter, he now suffers from problems with the cervical vertebrae, which prevents him from both sparring and exercising.
Sterling said that several other UFC representatives had previously faced the same problems, and also talked about possible ways out of the situation.
Each of them assumes the absence of competitive practice for a long time.
“One option is splicing.
Then it will take about nine months before you can return to regular strenuous training.
Another is replacing the disc with an artificial one, some guys went through this, among them Chris Weidman, Alan Juban and, I think, Tristan Connelly.
There is a break here for only three months.
But before you can plan a fight, they will want to examine you ... At least the doctor told me: "We will wait four and a half months before moving on to real, hard training."
So the pause can be from four and a half to six months - depending on how my body will recover, ”- said Sterling.
Also, the reigning bantamweight champion admitted that he really received an offer from the UFC to arrange a rematch with Ian in the spring.
According to him, the promotion wanted to put up a battle at the 262nd tournament, scheduled for May 15.
The card currently has 15 fights, including a fight for the vacant lightweight title between Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira, and a duel between welterweight Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz.
“I was offered to fight on May 15 about a week after the fight, when I ... When my head was not in this universe.
But yes, I had to refuse, ”Sterling confirmed.
Thus, in the near future, the lightest division of the UFC risks being in a difficult position.
If Sterling really decides to have an operation and is forced to undergo a long rehabilitation, revenge with Ian will not be possible until early 2022.
This means that during all this time, the title in one of the brightest and most competitive categories will not be played, which can hit both the prestige of itself and the organization as a whole.
In the Absolute Fighting Championship, the belt is a priority for most athletes, and in such conditions, they risk losing motivation.
It is necessary to understand that in addition to the stagnation of the lightest division, Dana White's plans to conduct superfights may also go to pieces.
Recently, ex-champion in two weights Henry Sehudo announced his desire to resume his career; in January, the former king of the category up to 61.2 kilograms, T. Jay Dillashaw, was disqualified.
If it is still possible to agree with the second one (nevertheless, violation of the anti-doping rules is a serious offense, after which it is hardly reasonable to immediately assign the status of the first contender), then the first one is unlikely to agree to enter the cage if there is no trophy at stake.
Consequently, the return of at least one star can be postponed indefinitely, and with it the box office confrontation.
Moreover, Yang may find himself in the most difficult situation.
At the moment, he occupies first place in the bantamweight ranking, but in the absence of the opportunity to fight the champion, he will be forced to defend the title of contender.
The management of the promotion will not allow one of their top athletes to sit around until next year, and the Russian himself is hardly interested in this.
Unlike football players, he does not have a monthly salary, and his well-being is directly dependent on performances.
It is possible that by the end of the year Ian will be forced to fight with at least two stars of the division in order to retain the right to fight with Sterling.
Given the way in which Aljamein got his belt, this seems not only extremely unfair, but also difficult to accomplish.
The duels with the aforementioned Dillashaw and the fast-growing Corey Sandhagen will certainly not be easy and may end up not in favor of Peter.
With all of this in mind, it makes sense for the UFC to take a tougher stance on Sterling and present him with a choice: either he defends the title until the end of the summer, or the belt becomes vacant.
This will allow the promotion not only to avoid stagnation in the division, but also to bring a possible superfight between Ian and Sehudo closer.
There is no doubt that this duel will become one of the brightest of the year and will help significantly increase the popularity of the lightest category.
And there is every reason to believe that Dana White and the company will go exactly in this direction.
Of course, earlier the promotion repeatedly went to meet its fighters and left a belt behind them, even if they needed a long recovery from injuries.
The same Georges Saint-Pierre did not compete for 19 months due to knee injuries, but he still remained the welterweight leader.
You can also remember how long the belts remained with Conor McGregor, who at some point decided to try his hand at boxing.
So, he won the lightweight trophy in November 2016, and he passed to Khabib Nurmagomedov only in April 2018.
But Sterling does not match any of the aforementioned fighters in its status, as a result of which the UFC is unlikely to meet him halfway.
The way in which he won the title, and how he behaved after that, hardly implies loyalty on the part of White.
He always had an extremely negative attitude towards fighters who were not eager to defend their title, and repeatedly punished them for this.
It happened with Nikko Montagno and Jermaine de Randami.
The first withdrew from the fight against Valentina Shevchenko, and the second, after defeating Holi Holm in the championship battle, immediately announced her decision to take care of her health, and then refused to fight with Christian Justino.
It is also possible that Sterling will be left with a trophy for a while, but a temporary title will be introduced.
At first glance, this cannot be called an ideal option for Ian - in fact, it simply materializes his status as the first contender, nothing more.
After all, in order to become a full-fledged champion, he will still have to take revenge from Aljemain sooner or later.
But in reality, everything may turn out differently.
If the American continues to experience health problems or avoids meeting with a Russian, then the interim title may become full-fledged.
This is exactly what happened to Robert Whittaker in 2017.
First, he prevailed over Yoel Romero and strengthened his status as the first contender, and after Saint-Pierre's announcement of his retirement from the sport, he received a trophy.