The UFC has witnessed many heated rivalries that have transcended beyond the Octagon, making their way into UFC memedom. Be it Chael Sonnen against Wanderlei Silva or Conor McGregor against Khabib Nurmagomedov. And if you mix fighting with reality TV, you’re bound to get some drama. The various brawls inside the fighter house in The Ultimate Fighter is a testament to that fact. Now, two former UFC bantamweight champions, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan have found themselves in between some major drama on. However, these two rivals weren’t directly involved.

Previously known as Hype Reality, now, ALF Global Reality’s first season featured Khamzat Chimaev and Arman Tsarukyan, where a video of Khamzat dominating Arman while wrestling took over the internet last year. The season witnessed Team Khamzat beating Team Arman in the competition and the show gained surprisingly positive reactions from the MMA community, establishing enthusiasm for the season ahead.

In the latest season, TUF’s Russian counterpart announced Aljamain Sterling as a replacement coach against Petr Yan after the current UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was unavailable for the competition. Fans knew there was going be heat between the two throughout the show. But what came as a plot twist for the viewers was not Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan fighting each other, instead, it was their teams. In a video that has gone viral, fighters from the sides of both Team Yan and Team Sterling were seen exchanging brutal attacks on each other.

What’s weird is the fact that the brawl wasn’t between members of opposing teams, although both teams were involved. Towards the end of the video, two members of Aljamain Sterling’s team were seen locked in a clench and throwing bombs at each other. All this drama made up for much excitement among fans who couldn’t help themselves but chime in with their thoughts.

Fans divided on brawl involving Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan’s teams

The altercation between Aljamain Sterling’s and Petr Yan’s team has generated many reactions ranging from excitement over the brawl to absolute criticism. One fan compared the fighters to dogs: “(They’re) Fight like Dogs“, as another one decided to target Russian fighters: “From what I see on social media Russian fighter have no self control“. Fans, as usual had hilarious takes such as, “After this, they’ll just go to the jacuzzi 2 hours and forget“, and, “When they drank overdose vodka“.

One critique of Sterling reacted hilariously saying: “Why’s Sterling a part of this?”.  Questioning Aljamain Sterling’s presence on the Russian show and more importantly. ALF Global even commented: “it’s only a baby teaser of what had happened in the Reality“, hinting to what must’ve unfolded behind the camera. The suspense regarding this controversial video will potentially generate an increase in viewers of the show.

Russia has gifted MMA fans with some of the greatest individuals the sport has ever seen. From Fedor Emelianenko to Khabib Nurmagomedov and the current LW Champion of the UFC Islam Makhachev to name a few. With such household names by their side, Russia has witnessed a surge in MMA organizations and competition. Khabib’s Eagle FC was one such example, a counterpart to the UFC, but it didn’t amount to much in the end.

It was inevitable for Russia to come up with the idea of a counterpart to The Ultimate Fighter, following the very same rules as UFC’s tournament. Even though AFL Global Reality is a new show with a long ladder to climb the show features marqeé names from the fight world. The rivalry of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling holds the potential to elevate the show even further, giving more reasons for the show to hope for a brighter future.