Aljamain Sterling drops five-word message hitting out at critics as Henry Cejudo reveals soft tissue damage on his eye

Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling came to the defense of his former foe, Henry Cejudo, in the aftermath of UFC Seattle last weekend. In his main event fight with Chinese standout Song Yadong, 'Triple C' suffered a nasty eye poke in the third round.

In between Rounds 3 and 4, Cejudo admitted to not seeing anything from his left eye, causing the referee to stop the fight. Since the eye poke was deemed accidental and three rounds were already completed, a technical decision was announced. After three rounds, Song was declared the winner, having been winning the fight up to that point.

Fans were quick to criticize Cejudo as they believed the former two-division champ was "looking for a way out" and faked the injury. All this was shot down by a single post by Cejudo, who revealed the soft tissue damage to his eye:

Sterling, who faced Cejudo back in 2023, commented on the post with a sarcastic tone to the fans who may have said the same thing about him back in 2021:

"Remember guys, he’s 'faking it'🤦🏾‍♂️"

Aljamain Sterling's comment. [Screenshot courtesy: @espnmma on Instagram]

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When Aljamain Sterling was criticized by fans for "faking" an injury to win the title

Back in 2021, Aljamain Sterling found himself in a similar situation as Henry Cejudo - but achieving a wildly different result. In his bout with Petr Yan for the UFC bantamweight title, 'Funkmaster' was hit with an illegal knee that rendered him incapable of continuing the fight.

In the fourth round, while Sterling was clearly on his knees going for a takedown, Yan hit him with a knee strike flush to the face. Sterling admitted that the impact was so powerful that he wouldn't be able to continue, causing the referee to declare him the winner via disqualification. He then became the first man to win a UFC title via disqualification.

Fans rained down some heavy criticism on Sterling, considering that he was arguably losing the fight right up to the point of the illegal strike. Fans were accusing him of "faking" the injury to win the belt.

Sterling was able to redeem himself over a year later, successfully defending his belt via a split decision. He further solidified his reign by defending his belt two more times against former champions TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo.