UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has shed light on a prior run-in with Raul Rosas Jr.
‘El Nino Problema’ is fresh off his return at UFC 282 this weekend against Jay Perrin. The 18-year-old made his UFC debut at the event and put on a show. He moved to 7-0 in his young career by the way of first-round submission.
Following the event, Rosas Jr. went on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. There, he discussed how he compared to the rest of the division. Surprisingly, the prospect stated that he feels confident he could dethrone ‘The Funk Master’ this early into his UFC career.
For his part, Aljamain Sterling later responded to the bantamweight prospect on Twitter. However, the bantamweight champion has now shed light on a previous grappling session with Rosas Jr. As it turns out, the pair are on bad terms because of it.
During a recent podcast alongside teammates such as Al Iaquinta and Merab Dvalishvili, Sterling discussed the grappling session. Despite the pair supposed to be going light, Rosas Jr. took the session seemingly very seriously. Along with that, Sterling revealed the Mexican fighter’s father was secretly recording their training.
“I want to grapple him again,” stated Sterling. “I grappled him twice, the second time I went and did a drill and they did this ‘King of the Mat’. I told him I was taking it easy for the day, just trying to get a sweat in and not go crazy. He was trying to pass my guard, and started acting like a DJ on my head. I sort of like, chuckled, and thought, ‘Okay, this dude’s being a little bit of a prick right now.’”
He continued, “Like I barely know this kid. Then I look over to the right, and there’s his dad with the f*cking camera recording. Like oh, this is a f*cking show and tell right now, you’re just recording s*it and don’t say anything. Like cool, you guys have champions come here and you’re completely disrespectful. That’s just a s*itty personality. You would think someone would’ve taught him some etiquette. Like, going into gyms and stuff and working out with other people but I guess not.”
“Didn’t ask [to record], nothing… It was weird.”
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