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Marlon Vera thinks UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling should be stripped of the belt after he was forced to pull out of his upcoming rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 267.
Marlon Vera took to Twitter to claim that Sterling should have his gold taken away for failing to defend it since his crowning in March.
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"Strip the man"
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Aljamain Sterling is the only fighter in UFC history to win a title via disqualification. An illegal knee strike led to Yan losing the title in a fight he was thoroughly dominating. Sterling was also criticized by a large section of the MMA community for celebrating the title win.
In an interaction with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Sterling explained why he celebrated his title win at UFC 259.
“To see the picture and think I was parading around with the belt, which is not what I was doing. I only started doing that when people started giving me sh*t for my friends and family telling me to take a picture them and because they posted it, I never posted it, I became the bad guy. At that point, I was like so I’m going to keep explaining myself for people to keep ignoring what I’m saying. So I was like you know what? I’m going to take pictures with the belt, here you go. I am the champ cause guess what? I am the champ!" (h/t MMA Fighting)
Catch Aljamain Sterling's appearance on The MMA Hour below:
Following the victory, Aljamain Sterling underwent neck surgery. Having seemingly recovered, the champ was finally set to run it back with Yan at UFC 267. However, he has been forced to withdraw owing to "lingering neck issues."
Who will replace Aljamain Sterling at UFC 267?
According to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Cory Sandhagen is the frontrunner to replace Sterling at UFC 267. He also revealed that Yan's fight at the pay-per-view is now expected to be for the interim title.
UFC 267 is set to take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 30. The pay-per-view is headlined by a light heavyweight title clash between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.
