What Type of Relationship Does Dana White and UFC Champ Aljamain Sterling Share? Has the Connection Between the UFC President and ‘Funk Master’ Strained?

A lot of UFC fans have accused their boss Dana White of preferential behavior towards the fighters of his choice. This might include an increase in the pay scale of a fighter, getting fights of their preference, or even a quick boost to fight for the divisional crown. To date, many fighters, including the famed Conor McGregor, have become household names with the supposed ‘Dana White privilege’ working in their favor. But, the noted UFC Bantamweight champ, Aljamain Sterling, is far from being one of them.

Although things were pretty normal between ‘Funk Master’ and the UFC boss initially, they took a rapid turn after Sterling’s Bantamweight title victory at UFC 259. Most fans might already know that ‘Aljo’ won that bout via disqualification and became the first-ever UFC champion to win the title in this manner. This disqualification victory is probably the factor that turned things sour between the UFC boss and the 34-year-old Jamaican-American.

Dana White displays signs of annoyance at Aljamain Sterling’s Bantamweight title victory

UFC fans expect the champions to earn the belt after showcasing their mettle in the ring. Sterling’s opponent, Petr Yan, clearly had the upper hand in their UFC 259 bout before landing the illegal knee that disqualified him. Hence, a lot of fans refused to accept Sterling as the rightful champion viewing his win as a fluke. A number of them were also of the opinion that ‘Funk Master’ earned the title by acting like he couldn’t continue fighting after the knee, although he was capable of fighting.

The UFC boss, Dana White, also gave out similar opinions at the post-UFC 259 press conference. He also took a more specific approach, revealing, “Aljo went to the hospital and was cleared with nothing. Nothing wrong with him”. Quite apparently, White also didn’t view Sterling as a rightful champion.

This might be termed as the incident that sparked a dislike for Sterling from the UFC boss. However, this is not the only occurrence showcasing the rocky relationship between the UFC boss and the Bantamweight champ of his promotion.

Dana White and Aljamain Sterling exchange verbal blows after UFC 288

Even though Sterling achieved his third title defense at UFC 288, it wasn’t the end of his scuffles. ‘Funk Master’ got into a heated altercation with his upcoming UFC 292 rival, Sean O’Malley, when he made his way into the octagon. This altercation had the crowd at its feet, which also prompted White to get the O’Malley vs Sterling bout announced at the earliest.

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However, the Jamaican-American didn’t look pretty eager to fight O’Malley in August, as asked by the UFC. He expressed that he might need more time to recover from his injuries. But Sterling was severely irritated by White’s tone when he revealed ‘Funk Master’, “didn’t want to take the fight”, to a reporter.

The 34-year-old wanted White to have “the courtesy of some type of respect”, instead of taking such a mocking tone to address his issues. Out of his annoyance, Sterling also fired shots at White as he put up a tweet and accepted the fight. The words in his tweet displayed his sarcastically deriding intent toward the UFC boss quite apparently.

But this time the UFC head honcho replied with a verbal blow. He implied that it was the reporter’s question that had prompted such a response from him. He also accused Sterling of forming the ‘Aljo doesn’t want to fight’ narrative himself since he had promoted his fight with an, “if my body holds up” angle.

White’s “ridiculous” comment in the end expressed his disgust at the events following his previous interview about Sterling. But a recently reported event might put an end to the rocky relationship these two have shared for quite some time.

White’s gift to Aljamain Sterling may cause their relations to improve

Several recent reports revealed the UFC boss has talked about gifting a brand new green Lamborghini to the Sterling. This might leave fans in a bit of bewilderment. A number of followers may say that White has a rather vindictive nature, often punishing the ones going against him. But, Sterling receiving a gift even after his long-running unruly relationship with White might have startled a lot of fans.

However, ‘Funk Master’ revealed in a recent interview that the entire thing was tentative and he hadn’t received his “green Lamborghini” yet. He said, “I hate to admit this but Dana didn’t actually get me the Lambo. We’re still working on that, so… hopefully, after this fight, maybe we can make that happen”.

These “after the fight” words from Sterling could prompt a number of fans to think otherwise. They might even say that White was giving away this gift as a part of Sterling’s fee to accept the UFC 292 bout.

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Whatever it is, the fans would apparently love it if this so-called gift can improve the relationship between the two. Only time will tell if the UFC boss and ‘Funk Master’ will make up over the green lambo.