Aljamain Sterling explains why he pulled out of UFC 267 title fight rematch against Petr Yan

Aljamain Sterling has opened up on why he was forced out of his rematch against Petr Yan at UFC 267.

On Saturday, it was revealed Sterling was out of the fight due to lingering issues with his neck. However, according to the bantamweight champion, he tried to push through training but his body wouldn’t allow it. He then asked for the fight to be delayed but the UFC doctors pulled him from the fight and the promotion decided to keep Yan on UFC 267 for an interim belt.

Sterling took to Instagram to release a lengthy statement as to why he is out of UFC 267.

“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,” Sterling wrote on Instagram.

Aljamain Sterling hasn’t fought since UFC 259 in March where he won the bantamweight title due to Petr Yan being DQ’d. When Sterling will be able to return is uncertain but the hope is he can get healthy so he can defend his belt soon.

What do you make of Aljamain Sterling explaining why he was forced out of his UFC 267 fight against Petr Yan?