Over the past few years, we’ve seen more and more heated altercations between fighters and abusive fans attending UFC events – with two more incidents at the recent PPV at The Sphere.
One of those incidents involved newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and his teammate, Aljamain Sterling, with the ‘Funkmaster’ sending an ominous warning to those fans who attempt to antagonize professional MMA fighters.
Aljamain Sterling warns UFC fans have gotten ‘too comfortable’ trashing fighters
After the ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC 306 last weekend, bantamweight stars Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling were filmed in a heated confrontation with a group of Sean O’Malley fans outside of The Sphere arena.
Various insults were hurled towards the two UFC fighters, with Dvalishvili even being pulled back by security and Sterling lunging as if he was about to throw a water bottle into the group of hecklers, some of whom were later identified as close friends of O’Malley.
Now, Sterling has come out to explain what caused the viral confrontation, telling MMA Today how UFC fans are becoming frustratingly accustomed to trash-talking fighters and hiding from their words.
“When Merab went on the bus after the Friday evening face-off, we saw a bunch of people waving him down, so he gets off the bus to go over [because] that’s the type of guy he is. Now, his minions Schmitty [friend of O’Malley] and the other skinny twig were on the other side – I see these guys screaming and yelling, coming all the back over to be a******.
“I was like ‘Alright guys, the presser is done, and now you’re actually in our personal space’. I told him ‘Dude, you’re really close now and you’re being straight-up disrespectful [and] I’m right here now, so if you want to sit behind this, you’re not very far away from me.”
“Some people are saying that I’m being too soft, f*** you,” lamented the former bantamweight champion, who was recently forced to withdraw from his upcoming UFC 307 fight against Movsar Evloev with an injury.
“There was a time where your words had consequences,” continued the veteran submission specialist, as he noted that there’s a concerning trend with these types of altercations with fans.
“People have gotten way too comfortable with just being complete a***** and thinking that there is nothing wrong with them being a******… We’re not in the arena where you can chirp away where you’ve paid up money [to be there].
“Now we’re in our personal space, we’re working and being professional with what we are trying to do, and you’re literally walking over and being a complete p****. There’s nothing cool about that whatsoever… I think there’s a time and a place, they just picked the wrong place.”
Aljamain Sterling wasn’t the only fighter confronting fans at The Sphere
UFC 306 wasn’t the first time that Merab Dvalishvili has generated headlines for the way that he deals with UFC fans insulting him; having climbed not one, but two barriers in order to confront hecklers before.
In fact, there was another incident at the most recent PPV, one that actually occurred inside The Sphere itself; this time involving UFC featherweight contender Brian Ortega.
As Ortega was leaving the arena following his loss to Diego Lopes, one fan filmed himself shouting some rather low-hanging personal insults towards ‘T-City’, who barged past security to confront the heckler.
It wasn’t clear what Ortega yelled in response, but the UFC fighter was quickly ushered away by security; indicating that there was at least some level of malice in the words exchanged.
Should UFC fans continue to antagonize fighters in such disrespectful ways, especially around their fights, it sadly won’t be long before a verbal confrontation turns physical; as we’ve already seen once this year with the likes of Arman Tsarukyan punching a fan.