Aljamain suggests new date after UFC 307 withdrawal

Featherweight Aljamain Sterling has pulled out of UFC 307, announcing on Thursday morning (AEST) that he will be unable to fight Movsar Evloev at the October 5 event because of an elbow injury suffered in training.

The 35-year-old, who formerly held the bantamweight belt before stepping up a weight class, explained he had worked hard but had been unable to recover from the injury in time.

“In sparring, I had an injury not requiring surgery,” Sterling said.

“But I was advised by the UFC medical staff that I will not be able to properly compete in this short of a turnaround.

“I did the stem cells. I took time off.

“I tried to rehab it as much as I can, as best as I can with the [UFC Performance Institute] team here, and unfortunately, it’s out of my hands now.

“I apologise to Movsar and his team.

“We’ve been talking and I was really looking forward to punching this guy in his face.”

Sterling challenged Movsar to wait for him to recover, suggesting that the pair could fight in December instead.

“Movsar, if you still really want to punch this handsome face, I put the challenge out to you to push the fight back and wait,” he said.

“Wait for daddy. I will be back soon.

“Possibly do this in December. That’s pretty much all I got.

“If you decide not to wait, I can respect that also because you’re trying to fight for a belt, as am I.

“The only way to do that is to go through each other.”

Despite the loss of Sterling vs Evloev from the Salt Lake City card, UFC 307 will still feature some blockbuster match ups.

Alex Pereira will be in action for the first time since knocking out Jiri Prochazka in June, with the Brazilian a $1.22 favourite at PlayUp (PlayUp review) to defend his light heavyweight belt against Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event.

Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena will also clash for the women’s bantamweight belt, with UFC betting sites putting the odds to win at $1.57 to $2.50 in Pennington’s favour.

Sports news