UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has revealed he once called out boxing legend Floyd Mayweather for a fight, after accusing him of trying to hit on his fiancée
In 2016, ‘The Funk Master’ was at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas when he and his girlfriend Rebecca Cruz were approached by Mayweather’s associates.
They were invited to party with ‘Money’ but Sterling was suspicious about the boxer's intentions.
“He [Mayweather] sent over his minions to try to pick her [Cruz] up,” Sterling said on the Spinning Backfist podcast.
“I was still undefeated at the time. So, he sent over a girl. No, I think he sent over a guy first. Told us like, 'Yeah we both come down.'
“I’m like, Man, I’m not stupid. We come over you guys will try to take her off, try to push me back and then I’m gonna feel some type of way. Like, 'Nah, now I’ve gotta create a scene ‘cause you’re not about to punk me like that.”
“He left and came back with a girl and this girl’s like, ‘Really, he said you guys both can come down.'"
Sterling believes that Mayweather had no interest in him, and he would’ve been quickly pushed to the side if they had chosen to accept the boxer's invitation.
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He continued: “I was like, 'Listen, I know how this scene, this movie goes. You can tell Floyd he’s undefeated in boxing. I’m undefeated in MMA. If we want to figure out what’s the better sport, we can find out today.'
“I don’t think they actually went and told him that. I’m a big fan but you’re not about to have me looking stupid out here.”
Sterling recently became the undisputed bantamweight champion when he scored a split decision win over his bitter rival, Petr Yan, at UFC 273.
At UFC 259 in March 2021, Sterling made history when he was crowned the bantamweight champion by way of a disqualification after taking an illegal knee from Yan.
More than a year later, the pair finally settled their beef and Sterling got the crowning moment every MMA fighter dreams of.
Mayweather retired from professional boxing in 2017 after stretching his undefeated boxing record to 50-0 by beating former dual-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor.
Since then, he’s stayed busy by taking lucrative exhibition bouts.
In December 2018, Mayweather stopped Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa inside one round after dropping the youngster three times during their fight at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.
Last year, Mayweather returned to the ring to take on Logan Paul in an exhibition. The YouTuber survived eight rounds against the aging legend and no winner was declared at the end of the bout.
On May 14 Mayweather will once again put on the gloves when he takes on Don Moore in another exhibition bout that is set to take place on top of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, UAE.
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