Demetrious Johnson is always going to be linked to the UFC in some way. It appears his latest rivalry is with current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.
The two exchanged some words after Demetrious Johnson criticized Aljamain Sterling for his last fight. Sterling then hit back after saying Johnson's KO loss by knee was ‘karma.'
Demetrious Johnson says he stands by his earlier criticism regardless.
“I don’t think it was karma. I think if I hadn’t said anything, to begin with, I think the same thing probably would have still happened. The biggest thing is I’m always very unbiased,” Demetrious Johnson tells MMAMania.com‘s Shakiel Mahjouri. “I like Aljamain Sterling. I think he’s a great athlete, I great fighter. When I sat there and watched that fight, I’m like — and he can probably vouch for this too — any wrestling coach, when you get pinned or stacked or anything like that, they’ll say, ‘You shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’
“So when I watched that fight, Aljamain Sterling is such a gifted athlete and he’s so skillful. But it’s like, why would you put yourself there in the first place? He said, ‘I felt I was in a safe place.’ If I was coaching him I would tell him, ‘Dog, we don’t rely on you to be there for a safe spot. You get back to your feet, you pull guard, you have great grappling. Let’s put ourselves somewhere else.’ Granted, fucking homeboy Petr Yan kneed him, right?”
The exchange has been an interesting one with different opinions. Demetrious Johnson stands by his original criticism still.
“All my talking comes from my coach. He has always said that,” the former UFC Flyweight champion asserts. “There are times in fights I fought, such as John Dodson, where they did the exact same thing. He was putting his hands down on the ground the first time we fought and I couldn’t knee him in the face. And he did it on purpose. My coach said how is this even a fight? If a person puts his hands on the ground and stops the momentum of the way the fight’s going, that doesn’t make sense to me.“That’s why I said what I said. Aljamain Sterling was on his knees and he was stopping the progression of the fight. Petr Yan had to stop and think about the next shot he was going to throw. That’s where it came from. For him to say it was karma — I don’t believe in karma. I’m a good person, I feel… If he does it again, I’ll say the same fuking thing again.”
Follow Us
Subscribe