Aljamain Sterling believes both Will Smith and Jorge Masvidal were out of line, but he at least can understand the impulse.
Physical altercations were big at the end of March. Jorge Masvidal, who was accused of assaulting Colby Covington in Miami, was taken into custody within the last few weeks. Will Smith, then an actor, slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, a scene that has been dominating online discourse ever since. Smith’s actions were prompted by Rock making a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith while awarding — UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain sterling can understand Smith’s response, even though he disagrees with it.
” I understand that it was wrong,” Sterling stated on The MMA Hour , when asked his opinion on Will Smith’s situation. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying what Will did was right. I want everyone to understand that. But the past two years for him, to have dealt with what he’s dealt with on social media, and then he has another person that — I don’t know their relationship, maybe he feels that was a friend and it was a low point and it was just enough was enough and he saw what it did to his wife.
” It gets to the point that we are all humans and have our breaking points. I believe people forget this. You’re trying to tell this man where his limit and where his threshold is — that’s wrong. This to me is wrong. It’s impossible to tell me that I shouldn’t feel this way in this moment and at this location. I must be able and able manage my emotions at this point and at this place. You don’t know what I’m dealing with.
“I’m not saying that it is right. He just reached the point of saying, “Yo man, I’m tired of this s ***.’.” I believe it was one of those moments. He didn’t punch me and Chris Rock did not press charges. At the same time, I was disappointed with Will that he did that on a national setting to Chris Rock — and even if it was to anybody else, it doesn’t matter if it’s to Chris Rock or Joe Schmo, regular, every day civilian. It’s wrong to do this, but it is understandable why some people might do that.
“I get it. I don’t agree with it but I get it.”
Masvidal’s position is in some ways similar to Smith’s.
In the build up to their fight at UFC 272, Covington repeatedly brought Masvidal’s family into his trash talk. As such, Sterling feels similarly about Masvidal, and he noted the difference in how Covington and Rock have handled their respective situations.
“It’s the same exact thing. You cross a certain line, you have to expect that not everyone is gonna be the same person that you can get away with that with,” Sterling said. Sterling said that while some might hire someone else, others will say “Nah, screw it,” and that they’ll take the opportunity to see them. That was how our lives were. If you’ve said some stupid things and somebody’s been able to see you slip, that’s a bad night. Probably the last night for you. Jorge did something that you might think was wrong at this stage in Jorge’s life. But, listen, people can live and die by code. He is a great guy. I’m not saying it’s right, I don’t agree with it, but again, I can’t tell him how to feel. I can’t tell this man what’s enough.
“Colby is coming after him legally, doing the exact opposite to Chris Rock. So you can see both sides, and a different approach. Colby is not a street guy. Colby can take on his opponent, and they could fight again if he approached him. Or maybe Masvidal headbutts and the fight turns into something. Each to his own. It was probably f *****, although you needed to be certain that it would happen.
“Again, people do crazy s***. Our world is crazy. We live in a crazy world. Because people react certain ways when certain things happen, and that’s just the nature of the beast. Human beings are flawed and all of us have them. Stop pretending to be perfect .”
Sterling is no stranger to rude comments himself. The UFC bantamweight champion has caught a ton of hate from MMA fans and from rival Petr Yan over the past year for winning the title via disqualification, and the lengthy delay before a rematch.
Sterling can silence this hatred when he takes on Yan at the co-main UFC 273 event. It will take place April 9..
