UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling has provided an update on his relationship with coach Matt Serra following their much-publicized falling out earlier this year.
The duo’s relationship hit troubled waters after Sterling’s decision to exclude Serra from his corner for his championship bout with Petr Yan in March. Instead of his coach of seven years, “The Funk Master” was cornered by Eric Nicksick, who had trained Sterling for the previous three months while he prepared in Las Vegas.
Shortly following the bout, Serra publicly shared that he felt “disrespected” by the snub, and vowed that he would never corner Sterling again. Days later, however, Serra posted a video to social media quashing rumors of “beef” between him and his star pupil.
In the Instagram video, Serra is seen embracing Sterling, before declaring that “myself and the ‘Funk Master’ are always gonna be cool.” He also vowed to “help [Sterling] defend this belt,” while also, however, reaffirming that he “ain’t cornering for a while.”
Sterling Gives Update On Relationship With Matt Serra
So it seems Sterling has patched things up with his long-time coach. But will we see Serra in “The Funk Master’s” corner for his rematch with Yan at UFC 267?
When asked by Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Sterling said that he’s hopeful.
“Hopefully. I’m hoping he comes out for this one. Because that was always the plan. And I’ve spoken to him about it before, making the decision, and I’ve spoken to him after that whole thing came out. And I told him, like, honestly, I didn’t think it would’ve come to a situation like that where he would’ve felt that hurt,” said Sterling.
As for excluding Serra from his corner previously, Sterling explained that Serra’s fear of contracting COVID-19 played a big part in the decision.
“And it was more so doing kinda what he told me, like, ‘Do what makes you feel the most comfortable’ because you’re the guy going in there to battle. And I did what I thought was right in terms of the COVID situation. We had to only bring out people we could work out with. And Matt, he was doing his thing. And he was more afraid about the COVID than a lot of us were, so it was just kind of one of those situations where I was like, well, I kinda need you here. So if it’s gonna be a bother, maybe we just wait till the next fight. And that was always the plan, at least of my intentions.”
Sterling then speculated as to why Serra felt so disrespected by the cornering snub.
“So I think things maybe kinda got lost in translation or maybe the fight week kinda made things a little more real? Where it seemed like, ‘Ah, man, I’m not in the corner, and I should be there’ kinda thing. So I don’t know if that’s what it was.”
What do you think? Are we likely to see Matt Serra in Aljamain’s corner at UFC 267?
