Despite the past controversies, Aljamain Sterling has seemingly earned a huge fanbase through his last two title defenses. He recently appeared on The MMA Hour to discuss his upcoming bout against Henry Cejudo. During a particular segment, Sterling brought up a topic that was riveting to the show’s host Ariel Helwani and the viewers alike.
‘Funkmaster‘ shared that New York has banned him from fighting due to unfortunate findings on a brain scan. As per him, the NYSAC (New York State Athletic Commission) had refused to clear his 2014 UFC debut. The doctors found two spots on his brain during a pre-fight test.
“When I made my UFC debut [in] February 2014 at UFC 170, the Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann card, I believe. I had to get a CAT scan, [the] first time ever getting a CAT scan. They found two spots on my brain,” said ‘Aljo.’ “They were like a millimeter or something like that. It looked like there was trauma, and they weren’t sure what it was.”
Even though Sterling was slated to debut in Las Vegas, he went for a pre-fight medical test in New York since he trained in the said city. “In order for me to be cleared, I would’ve had to like go take it out of my head. So, I wasn’t sure if I needed to get like drilled in my head to pull these things out.”
The commission allowed him to proceed with his promotional debut. A few years after the spots’ initial discovery, the doctors gave him the all-clear regarding the spots on his brain. But the NY commission has still not cleared him despite the spots apparently not being alarming.
“A couple years after they realised, nothing was happening. They were like, ‘Okay, you’re safe. You’re not bleeding out, you’re not going to die in the cage.’ So things were good, and I was allowed to compete in Nevada and all the other states except New York,” concluded Sterling.
An unfortunate knee to his head helped Aljamain Sterling win the UFC gold
Despite what seemingly appeared as a life-threatening moment at the time, Aljamain Sterling had to bare a vicious hit to his head at one point in his career. During his first infamous bout against Petr Yan at UFC 259, the former Russian champ hit Sterling’s head with a dangerous knee.
The 33-year-old was going toe to toe with Yan in an attempt to grab the latter’s belt. Petr appeared to make easy work of the Jamaican-American and was en route to make a successful first title defense. Unfortunately, things took an unfortunate turn for Petr as one illegal move on his part resulted in his instant disqualification.
Aljamain was in a downed position when Petr threw a knee to his head, a move prohibited as per the MMA rules. The brutal move seemed to land on Sterling’s temple, snapping his head back before he fell back on the canvas. The New York-born appeared visibly affected by this, as he continued struggling to move around while on the ground.
The infamous knee helped Aljamain win the bantamweight belt in an uneventful way. However, he went on to silence his doubters using an impressive performance against Petr at UFC 273. He’d then successfully defend his belt for the second time against former champion T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280.