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Aljamain Sterling has shared some thoughts on the way Ihor Potieria chose to celebrate his victory over MMA legend Maurício Rua at UFC 283.
The event was the UFC‘s first card in Brazil since 2020, and the promotion understandably decided to stack the matchups with as much local talent as possible. Brazilian fighters ended up having mixed results overall, and one of the most difficult losses occured when “Shogun” took on Potieria for his retirement fight but was stopped in the first round.
Anyone that comes to Brazil and faces a Brazilian opponent already knows the crowd will be against them, and that was only enhanced for Potieria due to being matched up with a legend of the sport. After stopping “Shogun” with strikes the 26-year-old celebrated with an awkward dance that infuriated the crowd and drew criticism from a number of other fighters.
While going through the results from UFC 283 on his YouTube channel, UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling took a few moments to acknowledge Rua’s retirement and also discuss Potieria’s celebration.
“I know everyone was saying his celebration was disrespectful,” Sterling began. “But then he did it at the press conference and was saying like ‘This is just one of his duelist celebrations.’ I don’t know, I try not to look into things too much. I’m pretty sure he’s a fan of ‘Shogun’, and it’s just one of those things… He can only truthfully answer that question. Hopefully he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to ‘Shogun’, I know a lot of people were giving him some flak after that.”
Sterling Empathizes With Potieria’s Situation
Potieria did pay his respects to Rua after celebrating, and Sterling mentioned from his own experience that sharing the cage with someone you admire can put the winning fighter in a bit of a difficult position.
“It’s just one of those things, the rush of emotions – say even with me, I know I danced and did the whole Fortnite thing after fighting T.J. But even before that, I went over to him after I celebrated a little bit. I went over there and was telling him like ‘Yo man, super respect for you for even taking this fight.’ And let him know that he was one of the guys I looked up to man, for a very long time.
“And even though I knew and heard about him cheating from the Alpha Male squad that he was doing this for years, I still respected the body of work that he was able to accomplish as a competitor. It is what it is, and sometimes you fight those guys that you looked up to and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Potieria and Rua shared a moment together in the cage following their fight. (Zuffa LLC)
“Funk Master” last defended his bantamweight title against former champion T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event of UFC 280. The fight was a highly anticipated affair, but things ended disappointingly when a preexisting shoulder injury compromised Dillashaw’s ability to compete before he was stopped with strikes in the second round.
Rua ended up being the first of two former champions to retire at UFC 283, as Glover Teixeira chose to leave his gloves in the cage after losing a unanimous decision to Jamahal Hill in the card’s main event.
What do you think of Sterling’s comments regarding how Potieria celebrated after his win at UFC 283?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Aljamain Sterling has shared some thoughts on the way Ihor Potieria chose to celebrate his victory over MMA legend Maurício Rua at UFC 283.
The event was the UFC‘s first card in Brazil since 2020, and the promotion understandably decided to stack the matchups with as much local talent as possible. Brazilian fighters ended up having mixed results overall, and one of the most difficult losses occured when “Shogun” took on Potieria for his retirement fight but was stopped in the first round.
Anyone that comes to Brazil and faces a Brazilian opponent already knows the crowd will be against them, and that was only enhanced for Potieria due to being matched up with a legend of the sport. After stopping “Shogun” with strikes the 26-year-old celebrated with an awkward dance that infuriated the crowd and drew criticism from a number of other fighters.
While going through the results from UFC 283 on his YouTube channel, UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling took a few moments to acknowledge Rua’s retirement and also discuss Potieria’s celebration.
“I know everyone was saying his celebration was disrespectful,” Sterling began. “But then he did it at the press conference and was saying like ‘This is just one of his duelist celebrations.’ I don’t know, I try not to look into things too much. I’m pretty sure he’s a fan of ‘Shogun’, and it’s just one of those things… He can only truthfully answer that question. Hopefully he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to ‘Shogun’, I know a lot of people were giving him some flak after that.”
Sterling Empathizes With Potieria’s Situation
Potieria did pay his respects to Rua after celebrating, and Sterling mentioned from his own experience that sharing the cage with someone you admire can put the winning fighter in a bit of a difficult position.
“It’s just one of those things, the rush of emotions – say even with me, I know I danced and did the whole Fortnite thing after fighting T.J. But even before that, I went over to him after I celebrated a little bit. I went over there and was telling him like ‘Yo man, super respect for you for even taking this fight.’ And let him know that he was one of the guys I looked up to man, for a very long time.
“And even though I knew and heard about him cheating from the Alpha Male squad that he was doing this for years, I still respected the body of work that he was able to accomplish as a competitor. It is what it is, and sometimes you fight those guys that you looked up to and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Potieria and Rua shared a moment together in the cage following their fight. (Zuffa LLC)
“Funk Master” last defended his bantamweight title against former champion T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event of UFC 280. The fight was a highly anticipated affair, but things ended disappointingly when a preexisting shoulder injury compromised Dillashaw’s ability to compete before he was stopped with strikes in the second round.
Rua ended up being the first of two former champions to retire at UFC 283, as Glover Teixeira chose to leave his gloves in the cage after losing a unanimous decision to Jamahal Hill in the card’s main event.
What do you think of Sterling’s comments regarding how Potieria celebrated after his win at UFC 283?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
The event was the UFC‘s first card in Brazil since 2020, and the promotion understandably decided to stack the matchups with as much local talent as possible. Brazilian fighters ended up having mixed results overall, and one of the most difficult losses occured when “Shogun” took on Potieria for his retirement fight but was stopped in the first round.
Anyone that comes to Brazil and faces a Brazilian opponent already knows the crowd will be against them, and that was only enhanced for Potieria due to being matched up with a legend of the sport. After stopping “Shogun” with strikes the 26-year-old celebrated with an awkward dance that infuriated the crowd and drew criticism from a number of other fighters.
While going through the results from UFC 283 on his YouTube channel, UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling took a few moments to acknowledge Rua’s retirement and also discuss Potieria’s celebration.
“I know everyone was saying his celebration was disrespectful,” Sterling began. “But then he did it at the press conference and was saying like ‘This is just one of his duelist celebrations.’ I don’t know, I try not to look into things too much. I’m pretty sure he’s a fan of ‘Shogun’, and it’s just one of those things… He can only truthfully answer that question. Hopefully he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to ‘Shogun’, I know a lot of people were giving him some flak after that.”
Sterling Empathizes With Potieria’s Situation
Potieria did pay his respects to Rua after celebrating, and Sterling mentioned from his own experience that sharing the cage with someone you admire can put the winning fighter in a bit of a difficult position.
“It’s just one of those things, the rush of emotions – say even with me, I know I danced and did the whole Fortnite thing after fighting T.J. But even before that, I went over to him after I celebrated a little bit. I went over there and was telling him like ‘Yo man, super respect for you for even taking this fight.’ And let him know that he was one of the guys I looked up to man, for a very long time.
“And even though I knew and heard about him cheating from the Alpha Male squad that he was doing this for years, I still respected the body of work that he was able to accomplish as a competitor. It is what it is, and sometimes you fight those guys that you looked up to and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Potieria and Rua shared a moment together in the cage following their fight. (Zuffa LLC)
“Funk Master” last defended his bantamweight title against former champion T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event of UFC 280. The fight was a highly anticipated affair, but things ended disappointingly when a preexisting shoulder injury compromised Dillashaw’s ability to compete before he was stopped with strikes in the second round.
Rua ended up being the first of two former champions to retire at UFC 283, as Glover Teixeira chose to leave his gloves in the cage after losing a unanimous decision to Jamahal Hill in the card’s main event.
What do you think of Sterling’s comments regarding how Potieria celebrated after his win at UFC 283?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Aljamain Sterling has shared some thoughts on the way Ihor Potieria chose to celebrate his victory over MMA legend Maurício Rua at UFC 283.
The event was the UFC‘s first card in Brazil since 2020, and the promotion understandably decided to stack the matchups with as much local talent as possible. Brazilian fighters ended up having mixed results overall, and one of the most difficult losses occured when “Shogun” took on Potieria for his retirement fight but was stopped in the first round.
Anyone that comes to Brazil and faces a Brazilian opponent already knows the crowd will be against them, and that was only enhanced for Potieria due to being matched up with a legend of the sport. After stopping “Shogun” with strikes the 26-year-old celebrated with an awkward dance that infuriated the crowd and drew criticism from a number of other fighters.
While going through the results from UFC 283 on his YouTube channel, UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling took a few moments to acknowledge Rua’s retirement and also discuss Potieria’s celebration.
“I know everyone was saying his celebration was disrespectful,” Sterling began. “But then he did it at the press conference and was saying like ‘This is just one of his duelist celebrations.’ I don’t know, I try not to look into things too much. I’m pretty sure he’s a fan of ‘Shogun’, and it’s just one of those things… He can only truthfully answer that question. Hopefully he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to ‘Shogun’, I know a lot of people were giving him some flak after that.”
Sterling Empathizes With Potieria’s Situation
Potieria did pay his respects to Rua after celebrating, and Sterling mentioned from his own experience that sharing the cage with someone you admire can put the winning fighter in a bit of a difficult position.
“It’s just one of those things, the rush of emotions – say even with me, I know I danced and did the whole Fortnite thing after fighting T.J. But even before that, I went over to him after I celebrated a little bit. I went over there and was telling him like ‘Yo man, super respect for you for even taking this fight.’ And let him know that he was one of the guys I looked up to man, for a very long time.
“And even though I knew and heard about him cheating from the Alpha Male squad that he was doing this for years, I still respected the body of work that he was able to accomplish as a competitor. It is what it is, and sometimes you fight those guys that you looked up to and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Funk Master” last defended his bantamweight title against former champion T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event of UFC 280. The fight was a highly anticipated affair, but things ended disappointingly when a preexisting shoulder injury compromised Dillashaw’s ability to compete before he was stopped with strikes in the second round.
Rua ended up being the first of two former champions to retire at UFC 283, as Glover Teixeira chose to leave his gloves in the cage after losing a unanimous decision to Jamahal Hill in the card’s main event.
What do you think of Sterling’s comments regarding how Potieria celebrated after his win at UFC 283?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
