Here we go againā¦
Reigning UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is expected to make his next 135-pound title defense against former division kingpin TJ Dillashaw as part of the upcoming UFC 279 pay-per-view (PPV) card on Sept. 10; however, āFunk Masterā wonāt be signing his āKillashawā contract until the promotion forks over some extra cash.
āThereās no fight until thereās ink on paper, and as of right now, my contract is exactly the same,ā Sterling said on his YouTube channel. āUsually, when itās not a title fight, when you win a fight, thereās an escalator. There has been no escalator in this fight. Iād like to think that I played my part, did the right things and even allowed myself to be the bad guy in the last outing with Petr Yan, and help play up the storyline. So I did my job. As of right now, Iām training, hoping that we come to some type of agreement to give some type of pay bump ā which naturally happens in all the contracts.ā
Sterling (21-3) made his Octagon debut as part of the UFC 170 pay-per-view (PPV) event back in early 2014 and has since compiled a 13-3 record. In addition, the streaking āFunk Masterā is now the winner of seven straight, which includes back-to-back victories over former 135-pound champion Petr Yan.
āFor me, I want to make sure we get the deal right before we just jump into another fight,ā Sterling continued. āBecause at the end of the day, I climbed through the ranks, I worked my ass off, and I played my position in terms of helping to promote the fights, which a lot of these guys donāt even do. Iām here to be a company man, and at the same time, I want to look out for my best interests. Thereās a fine line where thereās a balance where getting both of those done can happen.ā
The way UFC is handing out interim titles these days, I donāt like his chances.
Just shut up and fight
Well looks like weāll have us another interim champ sooner than later
Strip him and fire him.
this
The UFC doesnāt generally give pay bumps unless they think you have the potential to be a big star, or recently became a big star like with Masvidal and Izzys new contracts.
Aljo will be in for a rude awakening if he tries playing hard ball with the UFC here.
Dana White: āAljamain Sterling was never my friendā
Fire him if he wonāt honor his contract. He makes the UFC ZERO dollars, he has absolutely no leverage, not even as champion.
I donāt like Sterling one bit but he has a point imo. Itās standard for the champ to get an automatic escalator in his base pay.
tj vs yan for interim belt
Presumably he got that last fight as paper champ?
There are no escalators lol. Every champ has been getting the same flat fees forever and PPV points with very rare exceptions.
This isnāt Conor McGregor here.
Iāve never heard of fighters getting a pay bump in their contract just for being a champion. Yeah they get ppv points but very rarely are they bumping your base pay in the middle of a contract.
Maybe Aljo can take some advice from Cejudo on how to play hardball with the UFC
I like Aljo. Hope he gets his raise so he can put a whooping on tj like he did yan.
āYou want me to fulfill my end of a contract I signed? Ridiculous! Pay me more than the contract I signed. Then Iāll think about fulfilling the contract. Thatās how contracts workā
Strip that bitch!
