Fans initially thought former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling met his match outside the cage when a viral fight involving a FedEx driver featured a striking lookalike.
Aljamain Sterling is fresh off a close loss to Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 last weekend. In a grappling-heavy affair, Evloev got the nod on the judges’ scorecards, despite some believing Sterling did enough to win the fight.
As Sterling contemplates his UFC future, he explained how retirement is a potential option after falling short at UFC 310. In the meantime, he’s focused on helping prepare Merab Dvalishvili for his first bantamweight title defense at UFC 311 next month.
Sterling was at the center of a brief, albeit bizarre, controversy earlier this week on social media. After the Los Angeles Times posted a clip featuring a FedEx driver beating up someone resembling Sterling’s appearance, MMA Twitter had a field day and questioned whether or not Sterling was compromised after UFC 310.
It turns out that Sterling wasn’t the victim of the below beatdown. But, Sterling seemed to take it all in stride and got some much-needed laughs after his UFC 310 setback.
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Aljamain Sterling lookalike in viral video prompts hilarious social media reactions
In a recent post to X, Sterling assured his following that he was, in fact, not the brawler in the above clip.
“Nahhh I’m crying people really think that’s me vs FedEx guy [LAUGHS],” Sterling tweeted.
Shortly after X account UpFront MMA re-shared the clip, a community note was added to the post, clarifying that Sterling wasn’t the victim in the incident.
“That is not Aljamain Sterling. Source: Aljamain Sterling,” the community note read.
Additional context surrounding the above clip, including whether or not charges were sought against the FedEx driver or the Sterling lookalike, is uncertain as of this writing.
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Aljamain Sterling weighs retirement after UFC 310 defeat
After squashing speculation about his involvement in a fight with a FedEx driver, Sterling will turn his attention to deciding what’s next for him in the Octagon. Before falling to Evloev at UFC 310, Sterling put on a dominant performance against Calvin Kattar in his UFC 300 featherweight debut.
Sterling, arguably the greatest bantamweight in UFC history, lost the 135lb belt by TKO to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 last year. He had one of the most impressive title reigns in bantamweight history before the O’Malley fight, including successful defenses against Henry Cejudo, TJ Dillashaw, and Petr Yan.
A matchup with recent sparring partner, Bryce Mitchell, is a potential fit for Sterling’s next featherweight bout if he continues to fight. Mitchell defeated Kron Gracie by knockout at UFC 310 and has won three of his last five fights.
The 35-year-old Sterling is contemplating whether or not he wants to go on another UFC title run after the setback at UFC 310. While he’s likely on the final stretch of his career, he remains in peak shape, as evidenced by his success against Evloev.
Now avoiding the harsh bantamweight weight cut, Sterling has plenty of options for a return at featherweight. But, it remains to be seen if the UFC legend has one more title run in him before hanging up the gloves.