Aljamain Sterling shares his thoughts on Masvidal-Covington and Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has given his thoughts on the Jorge Masvidal/Colby Covington assault as well as Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock.

Across the last few weeks we’ve seen quite a few discussions develop regarding the morality of using violence in unusual situations. The first instance came as a result of Jorge Masvidal assaulting rival Colby Covington in Miami, just weeks after Covington beat “Gamebred” in the main event of UFC 272.

Then, at last Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, Will Smith took exception to a joke made by Chris Rock and opted to slap the host on national television.

Sterling, who knows a thing or two about confrontation, provided an interesting perspective during his appearance on The MMA Hour.

“I understand it was wrong,” Sterling said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying what Will did was right. I want everyone to understand that. But the past two years for him, to have dealt with what he’s dealt with on social media, and then he has another person that — I don’t know their relationship, maybe he feels that was a friend and it was a low point and it was just enough was enough and he saw what it did to his wife.

“It gets to a point where we’re all human and we all have breaking points, and I think people forget that. You’re trying to tell this man where his limit and where his threshold is — that’s wrong. That, to me, is wrong. You can’t tell me I should feel this way at this time and this place, and I should be able to contain myself at this time and this place. You don’t know what I’m dealing with.”

Sterling went on to compare the situation to what went down between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal in Miami.

“It’s the same exact thing. You cross a certain line, you have to expect that not everyone is gonna be the same person that you can get away with that with,” Sterling said. “Some people might get somebody else to do it, some people are gonna say, ‘Nah, screw that, when I see you and I get an opportunity, just know I’m taking that opportunity.’ That’s how we grew up in the streets. You said some s*** and someone’s able to catch you slipping, bro, it’s a bad night for you. Probably the last night for you. So Jorge did what you would think he shouldn’t be doing at this point in his life and his career, but listen, some people live by the code, die by the code. I can’t knock him for that. I’m not saying it’s right, I don’t agree with it, but again, I can’t tell him how to feel. I can’t tell this man what’s enough.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting

Do you agree with Aljamain Sterling?