UFC 280: Aljamain Sterling says 'arrogant' T.J. Dillashaw needs some humbling 'the Iron Sheik way'
Give Aljamain Sterling credit: He doesn't hold back. When he is asked a question and he has an opinion, he says what he thinks and gives no regard to the consequences.
He's blistered T.J. Dillashaw, whom he'll defend his bantamweight title against on Saturday in the co-main event at UFC 280 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at every chance he's gotten. In a roughly 20-minute interview with Yahoo Sports, Sterling teed off on Dillashaw about everything from his personality to his performance enhancing drug usage.
Sterling referred to Dillashaw as "Pillashaw" and called him a snake in his opening comments. He later called him a weasel, referred to him as "an arrogant little [jerk]," and said he's "juiced to the gills," among other inflammatory comments.
Dillashaw was suspended for two years after a fight with Henry Cejudo on Jan. 19, 2019, after testing positive for EPO. He later admitted that he took the substances.
Sterling, though, suspects that Dillashaw is still using illegal substances and said cheaters are frequently a step ahead of the testers. Believing an opponent is using PEDs can be a big hurdle for a fighter to overcome because the drugs can give him an unnatural edge, but Sterling said he's come to terms with it and will perform at his best.
"I already made peace with it that, more than likely, there's a 90 percent chance that this guy found a way to get around it," Sterling said of Dillashaw. "And he's going to do it, and it is what it is. I made peace with that. And if I lose to him, I lose to him. I really don't give a s***. At the end of the day, I'm going to put my best foot forward. And may the better man win, whether it's a guy who's clean versus the guy who's juiced to the gills, you know. So again, he lost everything he lost. But he also made everything he made in the process of ruining a lot of people's careers."
Sterling pointed out that former Dillashaw teammate Cody Garbrandt had called Dillashaw out for using PEDs but said most people ignored it or doubted him.
He said the positive tests following the Cejudo fight just confirmed what he already knew, and he invoked the name of legendary professional wrestler The Iron Sheik, who is known on social media for always threatening to humble his enemies.
"I know the guy is just not a good person," Sterling said of Dillashaw. "I've met him in person a couple of times. He's an arrogant little prick. And he needs some humbling man, the Iron Sheik way. You know, so break his back, make him humble, suplex him."
The best way that Sterling can humble Dillashaw is to defeat him. At BetMGM, Sterling is a -175 favorite, with Dillashaw at +145.
Cory Sandhagen, the UFC's fourth-ranked bantamweight who has lost to both men, said last month prior to his fight with Song Yadong in Las Vegas that he likes Sterling to pull it off.
"I’ve got Aljamain in that one,” Sandhagen said. “One reason is because I counted him out so big against [Petr] Yan, so I won’t do that again. And then another one is just because I think what Aljamain does, he does really world-class — like best in the world at doing it, which is getting his hands on you, taking your back and winning in that way.
“And I think that in order to not have that be the case, you have to have a lot of stopping power and you have to — like, that’s not an easy style to beat by any means, and I just don’t think that T.J. has the amount of stopping power in his punches and his attacks in order to stop Aljamain from running over there, grabbing him and taking his back."
Sterling showed his toughness in his last outing against Yan. He came back in the fifth and won the final round to earn a victory and retain the championship. Many believed he'd quit in his prior fight with Yan when he was hit with a flagrantly illegal knee and couldn't continue. He proved his critics, including other UFC fighters, wrong by the way he fought.
Now, his task is to do it again against Dillashaw, who is saying he deserves to be remembered as the greatest bantamweight in UFC history.
It's a big challenge, but Sterling's career is proof of his resiliency, tenacity and talent.
Sterling's talk puts a target on his back. He's highly involved in social media and the one thing people who are heavily into social media love to do is to point out a famous person's shortcomings. Sterling is OK with it, though because he believes in himself.
"When it comes to the storyline, I think it just makes more for a more drama-filled fight," he said. "And it makes it a little bit bigger [because] someone has to eat their words. That's why I talk s*** to begin with. I always talk sh*t because someone has to eat their words. You're either going to be afraid to say how you really feel, or you're gonna say it with your chest. and I say it with my chest."
