SAN JOSE, Calif. – Josh Thomson thinks Aljamain Sterling was a lot more defensive about Bellator commentator John McCarthy than he was UFC president Dana White.
Sterling (21-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC), the UFC bantamweight champion, was unhappy with both Thomson and McCarthy claiming that he lost the deciding Round 1 of his matchup with Petr Yan (16-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC 273. Two of the judges awarded Sterling Round 1, and he ended up retaining his title by split decision.
The assessment from “Big” John prompted Sterling to come at him strong on social media.
🤦🏾♂️ You think I give a shit about someone not agreeing with me? You and josh are CONSTANTLY disrespectful to us fighters. That’s where you both annoy me. Especially Josh, as a former high level athlete
You wanna try to take the high road now? Please look in the mirror Mr Perfect https://t.co/whnwmIgkTz
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) April 14, 2022
“Look, Aljo is gonna be upset, and he has a reason to be all up in his feelings, and he can do that, and that’s fine,” Thomson told MMA Junkie. “He has the right to say what he wants to say just like I have the right to say what I want to say. The bottom line is, in my opinion, he lost the first round. It was a close round, but my opinion was he lost the first round. I also had him losing the fight, but it was a close fight, and I also said Aljo fought a great fight. I had him barely losing and the fact that they gave him the decision, I didn’t say anything other than that.
“I’m like, look, if you won the fight, I’m not arguing with it. It wasn’t a robbery by any means. It wasn’t like they robbed Yan of the title. No, the fight was close. Aljo did some great work in the first round, but what people keep going back to is, and ‘Big’ John will attest to this, as well, is that he out-struck him. Look, if I land 20 jabs, but Yan landed five right hands, sat you back on your heels a little bit, which one is more effective and which one should the judges be looking at?”
White also had his opinion on Sterling’s fight, scoring it 3-2 in favor of Yan. Sterling did address White’s comments, but Thomson thinks he took bigger issue with his and McCarthy’s opinions.
“Fifty percent of the people thought he lost the first round; the other 50 percent thought he won the first round,” Thomson added. “So why are we any different? And I just wanted to see him come in with the same type of energy that he did against John. Why didn’t you go to that same energy with Dana White? Your boss said right after you lost that fight. Yan won the fight. I didn’t hear a whole lot of conversation.”
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