Aljamain Sterling hypes Merab Dvalishvili’s UFC 311 title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov: "January 18 is around the corner"

Aljamain Sterling recently made an effort to make his friend Merab Dvalishvili's UFC 311 title defense fight garner more eyeballs. Sterling also showcased his support for his training partner with his words.

UFC fans may have witnessed multiple instances showcasing the friendly relations between Sterling and Dvalishvili. 'The Machine' made his way into the octagon and stole Sterling's adversary, Sean O'Malley's jacket, during their post-fight squabble at UFC 288. Despite being in the same division for a long time, these two never agreed to fight each other, which stands as another testament to their friendship.

The bond between Sterling and Dvalishvili developed from their time training together. Both of these UFC athletes have been training at Serra-Longo Fight Team in New York for almost the entirety of their UFC careers, which stands as the primary reason behind their friendship.

Sterling recently hyped up the upcoming fight of his friend once more with an X update. He gave a reminder about the date of Dvalishvili's UFC 311 encounter to his followers along with a phrase of support for his friend. Sterling penned:

"January 18 is around the corner! Very excited for Merab to defend his title and show he is the best!"

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Aljamain Sterling was shocked after learning about Merab Dvalishvili's UFC 311 rival

Aljamain Sterling may have presented his full support to Merab Dvalishvili for his UFC 311 fight in the aforementioned tweet. However, he was taken aback after learning who his friend would fight at UFC 311.

Most fans may already know that the current bantamweight champ will defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311. But the news of Dvalishvili accepting Nurmagomedov as his next rival initially shocked Sterling. In an interview with Megan Olivi for ESPN MMA, Dvalishvili detailed why Sterling was awestruck by his decision. He said:

"Aljo [Aljamain Sterling] was a little bit shocked, like, 'Why you take [accept the fight against Nurmagomedov] this early? You should take a good [camp of] training [before accepting it]'. I didn't even tell him before, because it was like [his] fight week."

Check out Dvalishvili's words below (7:29):