UFC CEO Dana White views Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili’s lack of interest in a fight due to friendship as a “mistake” in their careers. Nonetheless, for the two fighter’s coach, Ray Longo, this is true brotherhood.
Dvalishvili has finally earned the title shot after defeating Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 last Saturday. This marks the fighter’s new path after previously refusing offers to fight his friend and former champ of the division, Sterling.
The two fighters’ original plan was for “Funk Master” to move to another class weight after defeating Sean O’Malley at UFC 292. While Sterling is now indeed pursuing the gold in a different division, the belt was snatched by “Sugar” in that bout. Now, with Sterling no longer in the same division as him, there is no other way for Dvalishvili but to be on top. Despite that, White said that Dvalishvili and Sterling missed opportunities when they turned down fight offers in the past.
“Merab sat out and didn’t take a title fight because his friend had the title – all that stuff,” White shared with Kevin Iole in a recent interview. “So I think you’re looking at two guys that, in my opinion, have made some mistakes in their careers.”
Longo begs to differ in that view.
Longo serves as the coach of the two fighters. For him, his students’ decision to decline the offers was the right thing to do as it proved the genuineness of their bond.
“To me, this is going to go down as one of the greatest human interest stories in MMA,” Longo said on The Anik & Florian Podcast. “How these two guys formed a brotherhood, and they didn’t succumb to all the bulls**t, they didn’t sell out for a $100,000, they put their friendship first. And now everything’s working out, and they had to take a lot of s**t for it; Aljo got tortured over it, Merab got tortured. Whether they want to say it or not, actions speak louder than words. We don’t have to hear it; we could see it.”
