“That’s what puzzles me about Sterling, based on my own experience,” White said at a press conference in Las Vegas. “When we talk to Aljamain one-on-one – he’s a great guy, very pleasant. The decisions he makes publicly and the things he says publicly have made him not the most popular guy on the roster. And that’s very strange.”
“I don’t know if it’s self-sabotage or something else, but he says the wrong things all the time. If he would change his public rhetoric, and start saying the right things, people would love him. Like I said, when we sit one-on-one, he’s a great guy, but in public he’s only hurting himself.”
“I don’t know what to advise him, especially since he doesn’t take my advice very well. He’s accomplished a lot, made enough money, and even despite this ‘we won’t fight Merab – we’re friends’ nonsense, I have no dislike for him. On a personal level, he’s a good dude.”
On August 19 at UFC 292 in Boston, Aljamain Sterling lost his championship belt by second-round technical knockout to Sean O’Malley, after which he stated that he wanted an immediate rematch, but not until next year.