Following Merab Dvalishvili’s UFC 306 title win against Sean O’Malley, he and teammate Aljamain Sterling went partying with UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones.
After such a monumental night for the Longo and Weidman team at UFC 306, Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling went to celebrate the Georgian’s title win in Vegas and bumped into a familiar face.
With the UFC having recently announced that Jon Jones‘ title fight against Stipe Miocic is officially booked for UFC 309 in November, Jones’ party days are numbered as he will be shortly beginning his fight camp.
Aljamain Sterling describes what it was like partying with Jon Jones
UFC CEO Dana White caught wind that ‘Bones’ was going to be heading to the Vegas strip following the monumental UFC 306 event, making him slightly nervy considering Jones’ partying history.
“(It was) short (partying with Jones), very short. He came over just to show some love to Merab the new champ and to say what’s up to myself as well and then I went to the bathroom and went over to his section and it was cool, we got to chop it up a little bit and catch up and it was just love,” Sterling told the Schmo.
‘Funkmaster’ and Jones went to college together and it was actually the heavyweight that got Sterling into MMA.
“We went to college together for one semester, I transferred and he was training down the road from my new college… And I never stopped training since that day and here I am.
“It’s kind of crazy to think two guys from New York, him being upstate and me being from Long Island both becoming champs and obviously him in more dominating fashion but it’s just cool,” Sterling added.
With Jones being a few months out from what is likely his retirement fight, it is unclear whether he enjoyed himself one last time or if he stayed away from a heavy night.
“I won’t speak on what he was doing but I was partying a little bit, so,” Sterling continued.
Aljamain Sterling targets possible new opponent following UFC 307 withdrawal
The former bantamweight champion was scheduled to face Movsar Evloev at UFC 307 on October 5, in what would’ve been a big fight in the featherweight division.
Unfortunately, though, Sterling recently announced that he is out of that fight due to an injury and is looking to return to the Octagon later this year.
With Evloev looking to remain on UFC 307, Sterling has highlighted another 145lber that he would like to fight if the promotion isn’t going to re-book the fight with the undefeated Russian.
“Maybe Diego Lopes (if Evloev doesn’t take it). Maybe that’d be a battle for the three. I think Diego rising to his stardom and his rise in the sport in the UFC has been huge, nothing short of inspiring, to be honest” Sterling revealed.
Sterling and Diego Lopes have previously trained together and ‘Funkmaster’ believes that since moving up to the featherweight division, tension between him and the Brazilian has slightly ‘shifted’.
“I can kind of feel the tension shift a little bit now when I see him, it seems like there’s a little but more tension there… I don’t really see there being a point it being like that,” he stated.