Aljamain Sterling has been pressured out of his upcoming battle in opposition to Movsar Evloev at UFC 307 in Salt Lake Metropolis on Oct. 5 after struggling an harm 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 harm not requiring surgical procedure, however I used to be suggested by the UFC medical employees 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 finest as I can with the [UFC Performance Institute] workforce right here, and sadly, it’s out of my fingers now. I apologize to Movsar and his workforce. We’ve been speaking and I used to be actually wanting ahead to punching this man in his face.”
Sources confirmed to MMA Combating that Sterling suffered an elbow harm that gained’t require him to have surgical procedure, however he wasn’t responding to therapy sufficient to danger combating in October.
Whereas it’s anticipated that Sterling might return earlier than the tip of the 12 months, there’s no probability he would have the ability to battle at UFC 307.
As of now, the UFC hasn’t rebooked Evloev in opposition to a special opponent however Sterling hopes the battle might simply be pushed again to a later date, though he gained’t fault the undefeated Russian for transferring on after their matchup was cancelled.
“Movsar, when you nonetheless actually need to punch this good-looking face, I put the problem out to you to push the battle again and wait,” Sterling mentioned. “Anticipate daddy. I might be again quickly. Probably do that in December. That’s just about all I acquired.
“When you determine to not wait, I can respect that additionally since you’re making an attempt to battle for a belt, as am I. The one manner to try 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 battle for the featherweight title. Now he’ll have to attend and see what the UFC decides relating to his subsequent battle.
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 mild heavyweight championship in opposition to Khalil Rountree Jr. in the principle occasion whereas Raquel Pennington places her bantamweight belt up for grabs dealing with former champion Julianna Pena.
