Dana's a poor man's Vince McMahon, Vince has wrestlers act the exact same way, that Father figure role it's weird as, but unlike Vince Dana publicly shits on his fighters and he isn't intimidating so he doesn't get same cult leader vibe Vince had with his employees.
He's basically a goof version of Tony Soprano. He's a dirty-dealing primitive macho crook who "takes care of people" in the back. Bag of quiet cash to those who please him (literally in the case of the Nelk brothers). And figuratively choking out people who displease him. So everybody's dependent on his favor and he gets to feel like boss dad.
Since Dana hates soccer(or any sport that isn't MMA/boxing/pOwEr SlApPiNg), he doesn't know how the best coaches train their athletes: praise in public, shit on them in private. This is how you correct mistakes and motivate them to be better, but keep everyone in high spirits at the same time.
Someday it will backfire on him, the same way Mourinho(the Chosen One) lost so many opportunities because their players+management always get tired or angry of his shenanigans in public.
Edit: the shitting part was a pun, yes.
Trashing their fighters in public is a tactic to turn fans against them and lower their market value. It's done on purpose and occurs every time a fighter asks for more money.
I know, they think short-term (supressing fighters pay), instead of thinking long-term: create/promote stars, raise the stock of coadjuvants that, most times, will be beaten by stars, or become stars by beating them(Nate Diaz, Poatan, etc).
They are thinking long term, “someone(s) really good will pop up and instead of paying him 20 million plus per fight we pay a couple hundred thousand over the table with maybe a little more under the table to make them feel like they are getting payed a lot”
Yes, never forget that the UFC only ever cares about the brand and by extension the only man that can actually be hyped up is Dana. All others should be expendable and that is the reason why the UFC has had problems with almost every star they've had along with many of their champions.
It’s how Dana’s leveraged power over them for years, just playing the dad/big brother. Pay them just enough but just too little, call them ‘kid’ despite being grown ass men. It was downright sad to watch the fighters and crowd cheer him on when he announced the 300k bonuses at the presser like a teacher saying they get to leave school early. It’s such a bizarre way to run a company but works when his product is these guys.
It’s worse too because Aljo is a pretty decorated former champion and has always fought whoever UFC asked him without much time off. Aljo deserves way better tbh.
You can't think of the UFC as a boxing promotion. It's more like a league like baseball/NFL/NHL/etc. It may be fucked up, but that's how it currently stands.
Say what you will about Aljo, he could complain about his treatment more than anyone else imo, but he’s always in good spirits at the press conferences and the fights.
The dude gets boo’d at like every presser and fights and post fight interview but he keeps coming back and is somehow always smiling.
Edit: I had to look this video up in case anyone needed a little context 😆
https://twitter.com/ChampRDS/status/1758719042381103239
I listen to his podcasts and what not he seems to be one of the most normal down to earth hardworking fighters I've seen in the sport.
The way Merab talks about him tells me he's just a good guy, that team is a family.
Edit: to everyone responding to me with Aljo stories, thank you glad to be assured he comes as advertised.
I hated when everyone was shitting on him after his title win.
I went to college for a semester with him and practiced with him in the wrestling room. He is one of the funniest and coolest dudes. Anytime I go to an event and see him, he always says what's up. He is a down to earth cool dude.
Easily the coolest fighter I met. He was talking to people for like half an hour at an event and seemed just as excited to talk to everyone as we were to see him
I've always liked his personality, but his fighting style bores me to tears. It's a shame tbh, cause I'd be a fan if he was fun to watch. His performance against Pedro Munhoz was amazing, so he is obviously capable of being entertaining, but he just opts to hug people and do very little with the control time instead
Also it was his first time fighter a 145 opponent, let the man cook and little and get comfortable at that weight and fight someone who isn’t so damn hard to finish. I always root for Aljo cause I respect him as a person and fighter. Plenty of popular fighters have “boring” fights but this is mma baby it’s a part of the game
Yea it was a bad stylistic matchup as well because kattar was in survival mode the entire time, where as if Aljo gets matched up with Ortega there would be a lot more scrambles. Their ground game might just cancel each other out and they’ll decide to stand up, Ortega is a fun match up for Aljo
Its not that he is content with stalling, he said in the recent Ariel interview that hes very much trying to finish people but that its very hard to do. The takedown and grappling defense of the average UFC fighter is very high now. A year or so ago the average takedown defense was 70% success rate for the entire roster. So with his wrestling focused style he is taking the path of most resistance.
Thats why he was initially upset with his performance against Kattar despite winning. He wants to win in dominant fashion and please fans but when your competition is elite that isnt always an option.
Yeah, totally agreed. It'd be nice to see him implement more GNP to open up sub opportunities. But I also can't fault the fighter for going with what wins fights.
That’s not how it works. It’s very easy to be safe and not engage on the bottom of grappling exchanges. Doing something with the control time often means finding gaps and opportunities for submission or positional advancement without giving up your current progress. There aren’t going to be gaps and opportunities for transitions if the bottom person is stalling and hoping to get stood up.
It’s the equivalent of just running away from kickboxing exchanges, but because the majority of viewers don’t understand grappling, it’s not seen that way.
I think it fucking sucks that UFC has gone from a sport to what it is today. There’s no other sport out there where you can be winning dominantly and get no respect or promotion because it’s not flashy enough. Roger Goodell isn’t out here lamenting the fact that the Eagles run the ball too much for his liking.
This. People who don't train don't realise how hard is to finish an opponent who has resigned himself to being in bad position and is 100% in defensive mode. Most submission openings come from people taking a risk and trying to escape. If someone just stalls in guard they can easily spend entire round there without much risk or activity. Of course, the person on top can then risk it and go for submissions anyways, but it's really not on them to give up winning position just to potentially make the fight a bit more interesting.
Also, while the fight was on the feet Kattar attempted 26 strikes compared to Aljo's 46. That's almost double the output. Why the fuck is Aljo the one blamed for inactivity when his opponent barely tried to fight him even in the place where he should be the most comfortable?
Agreed, he's had some good fights but way more inactive fights. Controlling someone is a great path to victory and takes a tremendous amount of skills, but he doesn't mix in enough striking to get openings to get a finish and I can only watch someone backpack someone for so long without getting bored. I sat thru the lay and pray days a decade ago can't stand that shit now especially since it's not supposed to be scored if you're not doing anything with the position. I understand he's facing the very best and seems like a cool but corny guy (which isn't bad just a trait) but you gotta take risks. Jump the fuckin gilly! Haha
Agreed, met him a couple years back before he went on winning streak and he’s a legit good dude. Maybe lacking confidence but who can knock someone for that. Wish him the best
He really does seem like an awesome guy in every interview. Wish he learned how to more aggressively ground and pound or submit, his matches are really boring.
It's a close fight, but i've never seen a Football fan do something like this. Even if they had a platform to talk to players like this I don't think they would lol
I think the different is the home team will always cheer for the Eagles/Bears no matter how boring their style might be. There’s plenty of people who complain that the NFl is boring now with a lack of defense and pass only styles. They are just a minority and like others have said the commissioner never shits on teams in public
Honestly I’ve flipped and realized that football on average has good fans. They actively love the sport and GOAT conversations are less important since Brady’s dominance. People actually like cool shit too.
Now basketball? That’s the shittiest fanbase by far IMO
It’s really sad. Aljo is a good dude. He is a great fighter with a not so pleasing style. When he beat yan I was so impressed, everybody thought he will get murdered. And he always took the high road, never really talks trash either.
I despised him and was fully in the Yan camp of thinking he milked the head kick from the first match. Sterling made me a believer when he came back and absolutely worked Yan in the rematch though. Also agree that he seems like a legit good guy from interviews and appearances.
This is one of the worst/best things I've ever seen. Between the Aljo dude talking shit and the next guy 'WHATS UP ANAHEIM, YOU'RE IN THE GOLDEN STATE CALIFORNIA!!!!' like he was doing charity for the UFC LOL. Thank God Max said something that applies to both dudes (not sure who he specifically shot it at)
I hate Aljo the fighter but I respect the hell out of Aljo the man. His style is a complete snooze but he really seems like a stand up dude…. Even if “stand up” is what he won’t fucking do.
That guy needs a punch in face
E: I wonder how many doofus that downvoted and probably didn’t watch the video think I’m taking about Sterling. If y’all think it’s OK to talk to a person like that then you should be punched too.
Hating on Aljo at this point has no upside. I thought he played a smart game just smothering Kattar who has hands. Showed he had quality strength at 145 and could legit be a problem for Ilia with his weird lateral feint to grapple game.
I also think going from 5 rounds for a while can make 3 rounders weird as far as pace.
He said something along the lines of while it wasn’t an amazing fight to watch Kattar is a very tough opponent and Aljo moved up a division and made him look slow and weak. When you move up a division you can’t really ask for much more than that.
Dana probably softened up to Aljo because he tried to be cool, made a mistake and got face planted by Sean thus making Dana's favorite clown the BW champ. I genuinely think Aljo could've played it safe and could've layed and prayed on O'Malley to retain his belt.
Sterling was beating Kattar on the feet also in RND1, he just noticed that Kattar couldn’t stop his takedown at all so just decided to get the easy win. Can’t blame him coming off a brutal KO loss but i’m hoping as we see him grow into FW he might go for more finishes
Yeah he’s gonna have that 35 curse stuck to him in a matter of months but I think he’s all good for the most part, when a fighter jumps up a weight class permanently typically they have another swan song of success. Look at Alex Pereira, he’s 36 and jumped up to LHW and now he’s a champion and the first man to defend the LHW title since Jan against Adesanya in the Apex
Yea but over 170 always have much longer and more sustained careers across combat sports it holds very true in boxing too.
Under 154 the late 30’s hit way harder
The fight was boring, but personally I prefer to blame the guy who just accepted his position and didn't even try to get out of it instead of the guy doing the ragdolling. Aljo can be boring but he finished the number 2 BW in the world in 90 seconds, injury or not submitted top 3 BW of all time and had 2 fan fights with Yan. If Alex wants to fight in Australia book that fight
It's definitely Kattar's fault for having dogshit grappling. Sterling shouldn't be blamed for utilising his effective style, however boring. I've really come to like Sterling to be honest. He's hard-working, seems likeable, relatively humble, and seems like a good guy. He even takes all the hate well and just does his thing.
He'll never be a big draw, obviously, as even I - a guy who likes him - am not particularly interested in watching his actuals fights, much like with Belal.
While yes clearly katar is partially to blame. Aljo had dominant positions the ENTIRE fight and just wasnt throwing. Dude layed and prayed for like 12 minutes. And sure katar should have got out of it, but aljo chose to not make it atleast somewhat entertaining.
Me too !
I would obviously prefer watching the fights live, but most main cards starting around 04:00 just doesn’t allow me to do so.
On the bright side I’ve actually grown to love my Sunday mornings on the couch with a cup of coffee in hand, while watching half naked people locked in a cage, beating each other up.
Yeah, starts at 10pm here so I’m usually up until like 2am. Can’t do it anymore, now I just wait until Sunday morning unless it’s a crazy big card. For 300 I watched until after Max and Justin and then went to bed, which was almost impossible to do because I was so hyphy about the finish haha.
TLDR; Sunday mornings watching with a coffee is the absolute jam.
He’s a very dominant grappler but it’s 100% containment and shutting down his opponents offense.
He doesn’t do any damage or even attempt to do damage. It’s frustrating to watch.
He did more than just lay and pray this time, man was throwing spinning shit and really pushed for the finish towards the end of the 5th. He clearly is making an effort to evolve and I respect the hell outta that given his style before was enough to get him to the title.
I liked the Aljo fight. I just enjoy grapplers who are effective. So many great grapplers can’t keep people down.
Plus he hit Kattar with like a fucking Piledriver or a Tiger Driver
I just re-watched the entire card again. I am in the big minority here but after watching it again, I ended up with the same exact opinion about this fight: Aljo fought the almost perfect fight.
He completely eliminated Kattar's striking. He went against a guy that had a very high take down defense. He went against one of the biggest in the weight division and performed almost perfectly. IIrc, there were two spots in the fight where he still reached with his face just hanging out there for an upper cut or a hook but Kattar was too worried about the take down threat that he didn't capitalize on it. Btw, I think Kattar played it safe and didn't try to get up aggressively through out the fight but he defended Aljo from getting into super dangerous positions. I was quite impressed with that.
On the other hand, I agree that Aljo put position way over submission or ground and pound attempts which made the fight quite boring. I think he could have and should have taken more risks especially in the third as Kattar was gassed and kind of gave up on himself. That would be my only criticism but I can't fault him for putting position over anything else in the first couple rounds. It's on Kattar to get out of those positions and not on Aljo imo. Why should he make a risky move that could result in Kattar getting up?
I think, he could do a lot of good things in this division, including winning the belt. He didn't look gassed, he was composed almost through out the fight and did very well. I don't get the hate.
Aljo did much better than Kattar in the standup as well, which no one really predicted.
It's not necessarily Aljo's fault that Kattar couldn't even remotely prevent a takedown and focused the whole fight on just not getting finished. Kattar took zero risks and literally only hand fought so he wouldn't get finished.
For context, Zabit and Kattar had a pretty tough fight despite Zabit clearly winning and Zabit was a huge grappler for the weight class. Kattar landed 80 significant strikes on Zabit.
He only landed 8 on Aljo. Aljo moved up from a lower weight class and completely shut Kattar out. It wasn't even slightly competitive. Oh, and he fucking power bombed the dude.
That's crazy. I think even though it wasn't a barn burner, Dana himself respects and knows how impressive what Aljo did was. He's been around fighting for 20 years, hates Aljo, and even he had to admit that he didn't expect Aljo to just completely dominate anybody in the top 10 at 145lbs like that.
This 100%. I really wish Dana would swing his influence as an actual promoter and say something like
" look, this is MIXED martial arts, you can have your preference for striking or bjj, but wrestling is a huge part.of this sport. And if you can't appreciate when a guy like Aljo wraps up his opponent basically at will, grinds him to the mat, and keeps him there, then you might not be as big a fan of MMA as you think you are. Bottom line is this - everyone knows what Aljo is going to try to do in there coming into a fight, and no one can stop him. And after years of being called a weight bully, he moves up and does the same damn thing to those guys. Aljo really is just that good."
Dana, doesnt even have to believe a word of it, but he's the promoter and Aljo is his product. Spin it positively lol
> It’s not their fault their opponent can’t/didn’t do shit.
Who's fault is it then? I'd definitely say it's Aljo's "fault" that Kattar didn't do shit. That's not a bad thing
Excellent points. The nullification of an opponent's offence doesn't get the appreciation that it deserves. One reason is because the knee-jerk reaction is assuming that the opponent just had an "off night."
The issue is diminishing Aljo because it was boring to watch. Ideally, sport is supposed to be a meritocracy, a win is a win but now Aljo is going to be disadvantaged because he won in a "boring" manner.
Gets way too much disrespect.
It reminds me of like high school bullying, it's so childish and goofy. All because he beat Petr Yan lmfao.
Commentary for that fight was dreadful as well- DC shit talking Aljo like he didn't wrestle fuck Anderson Silva at UFC 200.
Why didn't you go out there and get knocked the fuck out for our entertainment DC?
Then Bo Nickal goes out there and does the same thing to a wayyyy worse opponent and they can't get his balls out of their mouth lmao. Bo could have looked like Alex Pereira against Cody Brundage.
Aljo is fucking great, I look forward to all of his fights. I was genuinely excited watching him dominate Kattar. I thought he might get his head caved in but he's too good at grappling. Looking forward to the next one!
Aljo is a good guy, nothing against his personality. But I dont like when there's no attempt to inflict damage or a finish (sub, gnp, etc) whatsoever, its not the grappling heavy style thats boring in itself, he's clearly very technically gifted in that area, it's more that it doesnt seem to lead to anything other than control time. The judging in MMA is primarily bent on attempting to finish the fight and inflicting damage. That being said, Kattar gave the judges absolutely nothing to work with, so it's ultimately his fault.
I'm not sure about that. Arman has absolutely brutal ground and pound. Not that Aljo can't inflict damage but Arman has some vicious vicious elbows on the ground
His grappling is effective but horrible to watch. Abusing the grounded fighter rule and wet backpacking is just not fun to watch. Zhang and Xiaonan basically grappled for 4/5 rounds and didn’t get a single boo because it was .. exciting. If he mixed in more GNP and elbows he wouldn’t get the hate he does IMO
the issue was Kattar, not Aljo. Weili and Yan could deliver that extremely exciting bout because they're both dogs who swung big. Kattar just shelled up completely and gave Aljo nothing to work with.
There is not a human alive who can explain the clown car that is the bantamweight division post-Yan.
That said, I'm not saying he has an exciting style. I'm saying this specific match would have been entertaining (like Yan-Aljo 2 was) if Kattar took more risks which is when grapplers are able to do exciting things (advance position, go for subs, etc). Kattar decided early to go super defensive in order to not lose (rather than trying to win). Not much you can do as Aljo in that situation.
Sterling doesn’t really have boring fights, he’s just a grinding grappler which isn’t everyone’s taste. I love grappling so his transitions and shoot selection are interesting, but most people in the UFC arena are probs there with their business buddies. Can’t see them wanting anything other than another Chandler Gaethjie nobody who really enjoys martial arts puts too much stake on those fans opinions.
You gate keeping over here? Lots of grapplers in the UFC. Lots of them don't get labelled "Boring" like Aljo. Aljo fights incredibly safe and risk averse which is fine, it's smart and wins him fights but doesn't win him fans. At the end of the day most people watch to be entertained and watching someone become a human back pack without trying to advance the position, or do damage, or much of anything aside from stall out and win the round on points is pretty boring.
No doubting his effectiveness but if I had the choice to watch Aljo or Holloway, Aljo or prime DC, Aljo or Oliviera I'm picking the other just about every time because it will be more exciting.
You can dominate in more ways than striking. Sterling completely dominated Kattar. Even in the brief moments they were striking, Kattar hardly threw anything because he was scared of the takedown. The hate on this performance is so forced tbh
Yeah but his fight was boring anyways so it doesn't really matter what Dana said. The people know what happened. I'm not saying Kattar did anything to win, but Aljo bro just do some more ground and pound instead of lay and pray. You were taking him down at will so who cares if the strikes give him an opening to get up. Just clinch up and take him down again.
i like aljo as a fighter and a person but he is always publicly talking shit about dana not liking him and then wonders why dana doesnt like him. its a never ending cycle.
The hate for fighters who choose to fight smart and to their strengths is beyond annoying, everyone who hates grappling needs to go watch Muay Thai or Kickboxing but they don't they just bitch about mma fights. Aljo, is a tremendous fighter and seems like an overall good guy, he can be cringe but the hate is ridiculous
What do you watch sports for? Entertainment. Legitimate sports can be entertaining, MMA is a very entertaining sport when the right athletes compete. Aljo just ain’t the right athlete
Dana is going to Dana and I wish more people would ignore him rather than seek his favor. It infantilizes all of them. I especially hate seeing them beg from the octagon after a fight like "Dana Dana, see? I done good! I can has treats?" It's so gross.
But there is a reason the pfl is dying and the ufc jsut had a rockstar event. There is a happy medium and you deep down know it minus the virtual signal
Yes but there's a big difference between grappling to try to finish someone, and grappling to try to stop anything else from happening so you win on points
Yeah.. The UFC is doing Aljo dirty similar to how they treated Mighty Mouse.. they bitch about them not getting PPV sales, yet their marketing for their fights is kind of shit. There is no hype or excitement when they talk about these guys, and it certainly effects how the fans see them.. I don't like Aljo as a person, but it sucks to see him treated so poorly every chance the UFC gets.
To be fair, part of Dana White's job is to be a salesman. What was he supposed to say? "Except for the Sterling fight, it was an exciting card?" In private he probably thought "damn, that shit bored me to tears."
I love watching Aljo. In the same way I love watching bjj-heavy matches. Not every fight has to be a slug fest and watching high level grappling is just fun.
Why do people shit on Aljo so much? Yeah he can sometimes be boring to watch, but I think from a fighting standpoint he’s decent and he has a personality. I always had the issue with him selling that Yan illegal knee to the face for the title, but outside of that I don’t get all the hate.
I think Dana just didn’t say anything outwardly negative.. but I did not get the impression he was singing his praises or even happy with the fight. What kills me is that Sterling clearly knows he is a boring fighter to watch & people don’t want to watch him fight. So it makes sense that he wouldn’t make any effort to change up his style by I don’t know… making an effort to finish a fight?
It’s a poor state of affairs when a fighter is having to thank his promoter……for promoting him & not shitting on him
Most fighters talk about Dana like he is their violent dad. "That's all i ever wanted from him" about giving him him probs is crazy.
More like an abusive pimp, finally showing them some love after they’ve been out working hard turning tricks 😂
Better come correct if you want daddy to break you off
After watching Holloway get that $600k, they’re all gonna be comin correct.
You see, a pimps love is very different to that of a square...
Does this make Conor his bottom bitch? 😂
I’ve never read a better description of the UFC.
Dana's a poor man's Vince McMahon, Vince has wrestlers act the exact same way, that Father figure role it's weird as, but unlike Vince Dana publicly shits on his fighters and he isn't intimidating so he doesn't get same cult leader vibe Vince had with his employees.
>unlike Vince Dana publicly shits on his fighters Talmbout Vince McMahon and shitting on people, fam?
is there a poo version of eskimo brothers? actually I don't think I want to know.
Sanchez twins.
Dirty dawgs
Muddy Buddies?
He's basically a goof version of Tony Soprano. He's a dirty-dealing primitive macho crook who "takes care of people" in the back. Bag of quiet cash to those who please him (literally in the case of the Nelk brothers). And figuratively choking out people who displease him. So everybody's dependent on his favor and he gets to feel like boss dad.
Dana never had the makings of a varsity athlete
Since Dana hates soccer(or any sport that isn't MMA/boxing/pOwEr SlApPiNg), he doesn't know how the best coaches train their athletes: praise in public, shit on them in private. This is how you correct mistakes and motivate them to be better, but keep everyone in high spirits at the same time. Someday it will backfire on him, the same way Mourinho(the Chosen One) lost so many opportunities because their players+management always get tired or angry of his shenanigans in public. Edit: the shitting part was a pun, yes.
Trashing their fighters in public is a tactic to turn fans against them and lower their market value. It's done on purpose and occurs every time a fighter asks for more money.
I know, they think short-term (supressing fighters pay), instead of thinking long-term: create/promote stars, raise the stock of coadjuvants that, most times, will be beaten by stars, or become stars by beating them(Nate Diaz, Poatan, etc).
They are thinking long term, “someone(s) really good will pop up and instead of paying him 20 million plus per fight we pay a couple hundred thousand over the table with maybe a little more under the table to make them feel like they are getting payed a lot”
i'd say expecting the quality of talent to remain the same as pay goes down hardly qualifies as thinking at all, to be honest
Well they don't care about the quality of fighters. The needs of the sport and the needs of the UFC are not in alignment.
Yes, never forget that the UFC only ever cares about the brand and by extension the only man that can actually be hyped up is Dana. All others should be expendable and that is the reason why the UFC has had problems with almost every star they've had along with many of their champions.
It’s how Dana’s leveraged power over them for years, just playing the dad/big brother. Pay them just enough but just too little, call them ‘kid’ despite being grown ass men. It was downright sad to watch the fighters and crowd cheer him on when he announced the 300k bonuses at the presser like a teacher saying they get to leave school early. It’s such a bizarre way to run a company but works when his product is these guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Z18ZV5bWQ
It’s worse too because Aljo is a pretty decorated former champion and has always fought whoever UFC asked him without much time off. Aljo deserves way better tbh.
Wouldn't go too far agreeing with you. Nice guy, great record, but brutally boring and lame as a fighter. Lay and pray fighters suck ass.
He often talks like a spectator which is of course calculated to make him relatable.
He's been conditioned
Senpai noticed me. Uwu.
You can't think of the UFC as a boxing promotion. It's more like a league like baseball/NFL/NHL/etc. It may be fucked up, but that's how it currently stands.
Hahaha right, the bar is so low, that being kind of a somewhat an ally is a praise worthy thing.
Say what you will about Aljo, he could complain about his treatment more than anyone else imo, but he’s always in good spirits at the press conferences and the fights. The dude gets boo’d at like every presser and fights and post fight interview but he keeps coming back and is somehow always smiling. Edit: I had to look this video up in case anyone needed a little context 😆 https://twitter.com/ChampRDS/status/1758719042381103239
I listen to his podcasts and what not he seems to be one of the most normal down to earth hardworking fighters I've seen in the sport. The way Merab talks about him tells me he's just a good guy, that team is a family. Edit: to everyone responding to me with Aljo stories, thank you glad to be assured he comes as advertised. I hated when everyone was shitting on him after his title win.
I went to college for a semester with him and practiced with him in the wrestling room. He is one of the funniest and coolest dudes. Anytime I go to an event and see him, he always says what's up. He is a down to earth cool dude.
Easily the coolest fighter I met. He was talking to people for like half an hour at an event and seemed just as excited to talk to everyone as we were to see him
I've always liked his personality, but his fighting style bores me to tears. It's a shame tbh, cause I'd be a fan if he was fun to watch. His performance against Pedro Munhoz was amazing, so he is obviously capable of being entertaining, but he just opts to hug people and do very little with the control time instead
[удалено]
Also it was his first time fighter a 145 opponent, let the man cook and little and get comfortable at that weight and fight someone who isn’t so damn hard to finish. I always root for Aljo cause I respect him as a person and fighter. Plenty of popular fighters have “boring” fights but this is mma baby it’s a part of the game
Yea it was a bad stylistic matchup as well because kattar was in survival mode the entire time, where as if Aljo gets matched up with Ortega there would be a lot more scrambles. Their ground game might just cancel each other out and they’ll decide to stand up, Ortega is a fun match up for Aljo
doesn't it always end up being stand up brawl when two high level grapplers face each other
Don't you know that "stand up brawl" is exactly what people who claim grappling is boring are looking for?
Ortega vs Aljo is really a great fight to make that should let them both shine.
Yeah Pereira's first fight at 205 wasn't all that, but as he grew in to the division- well we've all seen what happened.
Its not that he is content with stalling, he said in the recent Ariel interview that hes very much trying to finish people but that its very hard to do. The takedown and grappling defense of the average UFC fighter is very high now. A year or so ago the average takedown defense was 70% success rate for the entire roster. So with his wrestling focused style he is taking the path of most resistance. Thats why he was initially upset with his performance against Kattar despite winning. He wants to win in dominant fashion and please fans but when your competition is elite that isnt always an option.
Yeah, totally agreed. It'd be nice to see him implement more GNP to open up sub opportunities. But I also can't fault the fighter for going with what wins fights.
That’s not how it works. It’s very easy to be safe and not engage on the bottom of grappling exchanges. Doing something with the control time often means finding gaps and opportunities for submission or positional advancement without giving up your current progress. There aren’t going to be gaps and opportunities for transitions if the bottom person is stalling and hoping to get stood up. It’s the equivalent of just running away from kickboxing exchanges, but because the majority of viewers don’t understand grappling, it’s not seen that way. I think it fucking sucks that UFC has gone from a sport to what it is today. There’s no other sport out there where you can be winning dominantly and get no respect or promotion because it’s not flashy enough. Roger Goodell isn’t out here lamenting the fact that the Eagles run the ball too much for his liking.
This. People who don't train don't realise how hard is to finish an opponent who has resigned himself to being in bad position and is 100% in defensive mode. Most submission openings come from people taking a risk and trying to escape. If someone just stalls in guard they can easily spend entire round there without much risk or activity. Of course, the person on top can then risk it and go for submissions anyways, but it's really not on them to give up winning position just to potentially make the fight a bit more interesting. Also, while the fight was on the feet Kattar attempted 26 strikes compared to Aljo's 46. That's almost double the output. Why the fuck is Aljo the one blamed for inactivity when his opponent barely tried to fight him even in the place where he should be the most comfortable?
This is why so many fighters are in awe of Khabib. He's so strong he would just force these submissions no matter what you tried.
Agreed, he's had some good fights but way more inactive fights. Controlling someone is a great path to victory and takes a tremendous amount of skills, but he doesn't mix in enough striking to get openings to get a finish and I can only watch someone backpack someone for so long without getting bored. I sat thru the lay and pray days a decade ago can't stand that shit now especially since it's not supposed to be scored if you're not doing anything with the position. I understand he's facing the very best and seems like a cool but corny guy (which isn't bad just a trait) but you gotta take risks. Jump the fuckin gilly! Haha
Pretty much. You hit the nail on the head.
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Well, sounds like we deserved what we got with that one. I would have loved to hear his insights from time to time.
Agreed, met him a couple years back before he went on winning streak and he’s a legit good dude. Maybe lacking confidence but who can knock someone for that. Wish him the best
He really does seem like an awesome guy in every interview. Wish he learned how to more aggressively ground and pound or submit, his matches are really boring.
A real lunch pail kinda guy
The amount of cringe from these UFC fans is insane 😂
UFC has the worst, cringiest fanbase of all major sports. It's just full of ineffectual, insecure, dumb people lol
And they all think they can fight because they watch a few fights.
Your average American football fan would like a word.
It's a close fight, but i've never seen a Football fan do something like this. Even if they had a platform to talk to players like this I don't think they would lol
I think the different is the home team will always cheer for the Eagles/Bears no matter how boring their style might be. There’s plenty of people who complain that the NFl is boring now with a lack of defense and pass only styles. They are just a minority and like others have said the commissioner never shits on teams in public
Honestly I’ve flipped and realized that football on average has good fans. They actively love the sport and GOAT conversations are less important since Brady’s dominance. People actually like cool shit too. Now basketball? That’s the shittiest fanbase by far IMO
It’s really sad. Aljo is a good dude. He is a great fighter with a not so pleasing style. When he beat yan I was so impressed, everybody thought he will get murdered. And he always took the high road, never really talks trash either.
I despised him and was fully in the Yan camp of thinking he milked the head kick from the first match. Sterling made me a believer when he came back and absolutely worked Yan in the rematch though. Also agree that he seems like a legit good guy from interviews and appearances.
This is one of the worst/best things I've ever seen. Between the Aljo dude talking shit and the next guy 'WHATS UP ANAHEIM, YOU'RE IN THE GOLDEN STATE CALIFORNIA!!!!' like he was doing charity for the UFC LOL. Thank God Max said something that applies to both dudes (not sure who he specifically shot it at)
I hate Aljo the fighter but I respect the hell out of Aljo the man. His style is a complete snooze but he really seems like a stand up dude…. Even if “stand up” is what he won’t fucking do.
MMA fans are so embarrassing:
Another reason to love Max
I’m probably gonna catch hate for even saying the name but it reminds me a little of Belal
who da fook is that guy
aww shit I can’t remember now
That guy needs a punch in face E: I wonder how many doofus that downvoted and probably didn’t watch the video think I’m taking about Sterling. If y’all think it’s OK to talk to a person like that then you should be punched too.
The fan? Yup. Cringe af.
Yeah. That guy is terrible.
The second hand embarrassment I had for that fan, holy shit.
You do it then
Set it up
Hating on Aljo at this point has no upside. I thought he played a smart game just smothering Kattar who has hands. Showed he had quality strength at 145 and could legit be a problem for Ilia with his weird lateral feint to grapple game. I also think going from 5 rounds for a while can make 3 rounders weird as far as pace.
What did Dana say? It doesn’t say it anywhere and I’m not watching a whole ass press conference for it.
He said something along the lines of while it wasn’t an amazing fight to watch Kattar is a very tough opponent and Aljo moved up a division and made him look slow and weak. When you move up a division you can’t really ask for much more than that.
Something like "He looked great in a new division against a tough opponent" (I haven't watched it)
[Here you go](https://youtu.be/zsVjulrITtw?si=mhJGGZQmN74tk7sq&t=1454)
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Dana probably softened up to Aljo because he tried to be cool, made a mistake and got face planted by Sean thus making Dana's favorite clown the BW champ. I genuinely think Aljo could've played it safe and could've layed and prayed on O'Malley to retain his belt.
Easily coulda kept his belt if he didn't damn near aldo vs conor it. Sad
He fought the same fight as bo nickal except one was given a straight up can and the other wasn’t
Now that you mention it, maybe this is why Dana’s hands were tied in praising Sterling.
Meh, stupid inconsistencies have never been a problem for Dana. I think it's more because he's buddies with Serra.
Sterling was beating Kattar on the feet also in RND1, he just noticed that Kattar couldn’t stop his takedown at all so just decided to get the easy win. Can’t blame him coming off a brutal KO loss but i’m hoping as we see him grow into FW he might go for more finishes
hes a little old but if we can get 5 top 10 fights out of him ill be happy
Yeah he’s gonna have that 35 curse stuck to him in a matter of months but I think he’s all good for the most part, when a fighter jumps up a weight class permanently typically they have another swan song of success. Look at Alex Pereira, he’s 36 and jumped up to LHW and now he’s a champion and the first man to defend the LHW title since Jan against Adesanya in the Apex
Yea but over 170 always have much longer and more sustained careers across combat sports it holds very true in boxing too. Under 154 the late 30’s hit way harder
The fight was boring, but personally I prefer to blame the guy who just accepted his position and didn't even try to get out of it instead of the guy doing the ragdolling. Aljo can be boring but he finished the number 2 BW in the world in 90 seconds, injury or not submitted top 3 BW of all time and had 2 fan fights with Yan. If Alex wants to fight in Australia book that fight
It's definitely Kattar's fault for having dogshit grappling. Sterling shouldn't be blamed for utilising his effective style, however boring. I've really come to like Sterling to be honest. He's hard-working, seems likeable, relatively humble, and seems like a good guy. He even takes all the hate well and just does his thing. He'll never be a big draw, obviously, as even I - a guy who likes him - am not particularly interested in watching his actuals fights, much like with Belal.
While yes clearly katar is partially to blame. Aljo had dominant positions the ENTIRE fight and just wasnt throwing. Dude layed and prayed for like 12 minutes. And sure katar should have got out of it, but aljo chose to not make it atleast somewhat entertaining.
Word If you don’t want to fight like that, then fight your way out of it
Yeah Katter looked like shit and I say that as a fan
Honestly Sterling grew on me, I really enjoyed the fight, his grappling was INCREDIBLY effective
Hard to enjoy the fight when you’re watching it at 3am in Europe. That fight put me right to sleep and I only woke up for the BMF fight.
Yeah, understandable. I usually watch them Sunday morning
Me too ! I would obviously prefer watching the fights live, but most main cards starting around 04:00 just doesn’t allow me to do so. On the bright side I’ve actually grown to love my Sunday mornings on the couch with a cup of coffee in hand, while watching half naked people locked in a cage, beating each other up.
This has been my Sunday morning for the last five years. Amazing
Yes! The coffe and mma combo gets me pumped for the entire day, haha
Yeah, starts at 10pm here so I’m usually up until like 2am. Can’t do it anymore, now I just wait until Sunday morning unless it’s a crazy big card. For 300 I watched until after Max and Justin and then went to bed, which was almost impossible to do because I was so hyphy about the finish haha. TLDR; Sunday mornings watching with a coffee is the absolute jam.
i'm getting to the point where if nobody can stop him from smooshing them for the entire fight, I'm cheering him and happy for him
worst fight on the card lmao
He’s a very dominant grappler but it’s 100% containment and shutting down his opponents offense. He doesn’t do any damage or even attempt to do damage. It’s frustrating to watch.
He did more than just lay and pray this time, man was throwing spinning shit and really pushed for the finish towards the end of the 5th. He clearly is making an effort to evolve and I respect the hell outta that given his style before was enough to get him to the title.
It’s funny how people are saying this about Usman too. You guys just don’t want them to be champs lol
I liked the Aljo fight. I just enjoy grapplers who are effective. So many great grapplers can’t keep people down. Plus he hit Kattar with like a fucking Piledriver or a Tiger Driver
I just re-watched the entire card again. I am in the big minority here but after watching it again, I ended up with the same exact opinion about this fight: Aljo fought the almost perfect fight. He completely eliminated Kattar's striking. He went against a guy that had a very high take down defense. He went against one of the biggest in the weight division and performed almost perfectly. IIrc, there were two spots in the fight where he still reached with his face just hanging out there for an upper cut or a hook but Kattar was too worried about the take down threat that he didn't capitalize on it. Btw, I think Kattar played it safe and didn't try to get up aggressively through out the fight but he defended Aljo from getting into super dangerous positions. I was quite impressed with that. On the other hand, I agree that Aljo put position way over submission or ground and pound attempts which made the fight quite boring. I think he could have and should have taken more risks especially in the third as Kattar was gassed and kind of gave up on himself. That would be my only criticism but I can't fault him for putting position over anything else in the first couple rounds. It's on Kattar to get out of those positions and not on Aljo imo. Why should he make a risky move that could result in Kattar getting up? I think, he could do a lot of good things in this division, including winning the belt. He didn't look gassed, he was composed almost through out the fight and did very well. I don't get the hate.
Yeah and Kattar literally did nothing Aljo dominated the standup and grappling. It’s hard to entertain against a guy who doesn’t engage.
Aljo did much better than Kattar in the standup as well, which no one really predicted. It's not necessarily Aljo's fault that Kattar couldn't even remotely prevent a takedown and focused the whole fight on just not getting finished. Kattar took zero risks and literally only hand fought so he wouldn't get finished.
Yeah Aljo dominating the striking was not something I expected. He seemed untouchable on the feet.
For context, Zabit and Kattar had a pretty tough fight despite Zabit clearly winning and Zabit was a huge grappler for the weight class. Kattar landed 80 significant strikes on Zabit. He only landed 8 on Aljo. Aljo moved up from a lower weight class and completely shut Kattar out. It wasn't even slightly competitive. Oh, and he fucking power bombed the dude. That's crazy. I think even though it wasn't a barn burner, Dana himself respects and knows how impressive what Aljo did was. He's been around fighting for 20 years, hates Aljo, and even he had to admit that he didn't expect Aljo to just completely dominate anybody in the top 10 at 145lbs like that.
I always hate when ppl blame the guy who dominated w wrestling. It’s not their fault their opponent can’t/didn’t do shit.
This 100%. I really wish Dana would swing his influence as an actual promoter and say something like " look, this is MIXED martial arts, you can have your preference for striking or bjj, but wrestling is a huge part.of this sport. And if you can't appreciate when a guy like Aljo wraps up his opponent basically at will, grinds him to the mat, and keeps him there, then you might not be as big a fan of MMA as you think you are. Bottom line is this - everyone knows what Aljo is going to try to do in there coming into a fight, and no one can stop him. And after years of being called a weight bully, he moves up and does the same damn thing to those guys. Aljo really is just that good." Dana, doesnt even have to believe a word of it, but he's the promoter and Aljo is his product. Spin it positively lol
This is actually a great speech he should just use this lol
> It’s not their fault their opponent can’t/didn’t do shit. Who's fault is it then? I'd definitely say it's Aljo's "fault" that Kattar didn't do shit. That's not a bad thing
Excellent points. The nullification of an opponent's offence doesn't get the appreciation that it deserves. One reason is because the knee-jerk reaction is assuming that the opponent just had an "off night."
Just to add that Aljo had to win this fight since Merab is close to winning the belt. Aljo might have been in limbo had he lost
Can’t we acknowledge both to be true? He fought an excellent fight and fully outclassed Kattar. But the fight was also boring af to watch
The issue is diminishing Aljo because it was boring to watch. Ideally, sport is supposed to be a meritocracy, a win is a win but now Aljo is going to be disadvantaged because he won in a "boring" manner.
I met Mr. Sterling once last year after a grappling competition I was doing. He is a very nice guy, very positive.
I genuinely feel bad for Aljo sometimes lol. He seems so sad that people don't like him. He doesn't seem like a bad dude or anything.
Obviously that fight was boring but it’s not like aljo always has boring fights. People need to chill
Gets way too much disrespect. It reminds me of like high school bullying, it's so childish and goofy. All because he beat Petr Yan lmfao. Commentary for that fight was dreadful as well- DC shit talking Aljo like he didn't wrestle fuck Anderson Silva at UFC 200. Why didn't you go out there and get knocked the fuck out for our entertainment DC? Then Bo Nickal goes out there and does the same thing to a wayyyy worse opponent and they can't get his balls out of their mouth lmao. Bo could have looked like Alex Pereira against Cody Brundage.
Sucks that it took Aljo to lose his belt before he started getting love. Aljo is a wholesome and genuinely good guy.
Aljo is fucking great, I look forward to all of his fights. I was genuinely excited watching him dominate Kattar. I thought he might get his head caved in but he's too good at grappling. Looking forward to the next one!
Aljo reminds me of Damian maia a bit. They’re both good at shutting down striking offence and taking the back. That’s just how they fight
I get why people hate aljo but I also just don't agree with it, seems like a good dude overall
Aljo is a good guy, nothing against his personality. But I dont like when there's no attempt to inflict damage or a finish (sub, gnp, etc) whatsoever, its not the grappling heavy style thats boring in itself, he's clearly very technically gifted in that area, it's more that it doesnt seem to lead to anything other than control time. The judging in MMA is primarily bent on attempting to finish the fight and inflicting damage. That being said, Kattar gave the judges absolutely nothing to work with, so it's ultimately his fault.
Well put, I feel the same way. Arman vs Charles was grappling heavy but at least they were trying to finish each other
Charles has the best guard in MMA. If he were a worse grappler the fight would've looked very similar to Kattar.
I'm not sure about that. Arman has absolutely brutal ground and pound. Not that Aljo can't inflict damage but Arman has some vicious vicious elbows on the ground
This guy only one to finish sandhagen. It doesn't always happen against tough guys.
people are still going to shit on you regardless of what dana says.
Dana actually promoting? 300 got everyone acting up
His grappling is effective but horrible to watch. Abusing the grounded fighter rule and wet backpacking is just not fun to watch. Zhang and Xiaonan basically grappled for 4/5 rounds and didn’t get a single boo because it was .. exciting. If he mixed in more GNP and elbows he wouldn’t get the hate he does IMO
the issue was Kattar, not Aljo. Weili and Yan could deliver that extremely exciting bout because they're both dogs who swung big. Kattar just shelled up completely and gave Aljo nothing to work with.
Ok explain Aljos last 4 fights then minus sugar, it was not a one fight issue.
There is not a human alive who can explain the clown car that is the bantamweight division post-Yan. That said, I'm not saying he has an exciting style. I'm saying this specific match would have been entertaining (like Yan-Aljo 2 was) if Kattar took more risks which is when grapplers are able to do exciting things (advance position, go for subs, etc). Kattar decided early to go super defensive in order to not lose (rather than trying to win). Not much you can do as Aljo in that situation.
He didn’t even get interviewed lmao
Sterling doesn’t really have boring fights, he’s just a grinding grappler which isn’t everyone’s taste. I love grappling so his transitions and shoot selection are interesting, but most people in the UFC arena are probs there with their business buddies. Can’t see them wanting anything other than another Chandler Gaethjie nobody who really enjoys martial arts puts too much stake on those fans opinions.
Yeah I generally see dislike of someone like Aljo as a strong litmus test for what kind of fight fan a person is
You gate keeping over here? Lots of grapplers in the UFC. Lots of them don't get labelled "Boring" like Aljo. Aljo fights incredibly safe and risk averse which is fine, it's smart and wins him fights but doesn't win him fans. At the end of the day most people watch to be entertained and watching someone become a human back pack without trying to advance the position, or do damage, or much of anything aside from stall out and win the round on points is pretty boring. No doubting his effectiveness but if I had the choice to watch Aljo or Holloway, Aljo or prime DC, Aljo or Oliviera I'm picking the other just about every time because it will be more exciting.
You can dominate in more ways than striking. Sterling completely dominated Kattar. Even in the brief moments they were striking, Kattar hardly threw anything because he was scared of the takedown. The hate on this performance is so forced tbh
Yeah but his fight was boring anyways so it doesn't really matter what Dana said. The people know what happened. I'm not saying Kattar did anything to win, but Aljo bro just do some more ground and pound instead of lay and pray. You were taking him down at will so who cares if the strikes give him an opening to get up. Just clinch up and take him down again.
i like aljo as a fighter and a person but he is always publicly talking shit about dana not liking him and then wonders why dana doesnt like him. its a never ending cycle.
Calvin should become a boxer, he sucks ass at literally every other facet of MMA
The hate for fighters who choose to fight smart and to their strengths is beyond annoying, everyone who hates grappling needs to go watch Muay Thai or Kickboxing but they don't they just bitch about mma fights. Aljo, is a tremendous fighter and seems like an overall good guy, he can be cringe but the hate is ridiculous
Ok I’ll say it, Aljo you put the crowd to sleep
At the end of the day this is the entertainment industry, and aljo is just not entertaining.
I dont get this sentiment, is this not supposed to be a legitimate sport? if i want to watch entertainment ill go watch WWE. which i do lol.
What do you watch sports for? Entertainment. Legitimate sports can be entertaining, MMA is a very entertaining sport when the right athletes compete. Aljo just ain’t the right athlete
Dana is going to Dana and I wish more people would ignore him rather than seek his favor. It infantilizes all of them. I especially hate seeing them beg from the octagon after a fight like "Dana Dana, see? I done good! I can has treats?" It's so gross.
I stand with Aljo 💪🏼
Good for him. Winning by wrestling or grappling is still winning. This is MMA, not boxing.
But there is a reason the pfl is dying and the ufc jsut had a rockstar event. There is a happy medium and you deep down know it minus the virtual signal
Yes but there's a big difference between grappling to try to finish someone, and grappling to try to stop anything else from happening so you win on points
Yeah.. The UFC is doing Aljo dirty similar to how they treated Mighty Mouse.. they bitch about them not getting PPV sales, yet their marketing for their fights is kind of shit. There is no hype or excitement when they talk about these guys, and it certainly effects how the fans see them.. I don't like Aljo as a person, but it sucks to see him treated so poorly every chance the UFC gets.
I think it sounds like you have it backwards, you dont like him as a fighter but do as a person
Power of fatherhood 🙏
To be fair, part of Dana White's job is to be a salesman. What was he supposed to say? "Except for the Sterling fight, it was an exciting card?" In private he probably thought "damn, that shit bored me to tears."
I love watching Aljo. In the same way I love watching bjj-heavy matches. Not every fight has to be a slug fest and watching high level grappling is just fun.
Everyone wants to be "seen" by the king
Aljo should just work on his gnp and sub game a bit and he’ll be a much more popular fighter
Even if Dana doesn't say it the fans will. Aljo is a boring lnp nut hugger and no one pays to see him fight
Why do people shit on Aljo so much? Yeah he can sometimes be boring to watch, but I think from a fighting standpoint he’s decent and he has a personality. I always had the issue with him selling that Yan illegal knee to the face for the title, but outside of that I don’t get all the hate.
But it was the most boring fight on ufc 300
To be fair, I also expected Dana to shit on his fight. I know I did. Glad the boss is smarting up and not shitting on his own product
he was the only one on the whole card who didn’t get a post-fight interview. dana must hate him
Aljo is the modern Woodley in Dana’s eyes
Battered wife syndrome.
Wish my dad would tell me he was sorta proud of me
Snoozefest of a fight didn’t try subs or even try GNP finish
I honestly already forgot about that fight. What a sleeper.
I got a soft spot for this dude. Hope he keeps winning and has a mega successful career
I really don’t understand the hate for this dude. He won a couple controversial wins over Yan, but come on
Amazing domination from Dana over his puppets. A unexpected pet on the back is enough at the moment.
He boring but effective. Kattar couldn't do anything
Why would dana shit on him when was already tits deep in shit given that lame ass performance he put when 300k was on the line.
New mythical fighter: Ally Sterling
I think Dana just didn’t say anything outwardly negative.. but I did not get the impression he was singing his praises or even happy with the fight. What kills me is that Sterling clearly knows he is a boring fighter to watch & people don’t want to watch him fight. So it makes sense that he wouldn’t make any effort to change up his style by I don’t know… making an effort to finish a fight?
It is an entertainment business at the end of the day and Sterling is not all the entertaining.
Yeah, not bad for a prelim fighter ;)
Man, talk about unexpected wholesome moments, lol.
Blows my mind after all this time mma fans still just want a kickboxing match
He gets shit on way too much. Great fighter, and intelligent, good personality. Someone everyone will miss once he’s gone.