‘Why would you put yourself there in the first place?’ Demetrious Johnson stands by criticism of Aljamain Sterling

Demetrious Johnson has stood by his previous criticism of Aljamain Sterling, saying: “if he does it again i’ll say the same f**king thing.”

Aljamain Sterling became the UFC Bantamweight Champion after being kneed while down and not being able to continue. At the time, former UFC Flyweight Champion, Demetrious Johnson questioned the credibility of the win and suggested the UFC changed their rule set.

Fast forward a month to April 7th and ‘Mighty Mouse’ was defeated in his One Championship bout with current One Bantamweight Champion, Adrian Moraes, via knee whilst being down.

The UFC and One Championship adopt separate rule sets, so one thing that illegal in one organisation is legal in another. With Demetrious Johnson losing by a knee whilst being downed, ‘Aljo’ decided he thought it was ‘karma’ after Johnson called for the UFC to change their ruling.

Despite this, ‘DJ’ has stood by his criticism over Sterling saying: “I don’t think it was karma, if I hadn’t had said anything to begin with, I think the same thing would’ve probably still happened.”

Not only has Johnson stood by his previous criticism, he has now began analysing Sterling’s performance in said title fight, saying:

“Dog we don’t rely on you being there for a safe spot. You get back to your feet, pull guard, you have great grappling. You shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

Demetrious Johnson is scheduled to fight reigning ONE Flyweight Muay Thai world champion, Rodtang, in a ‘special rules’ bout. The bout will include both Muay Thai and MMA rounds, with rounds 1 and 3 being Muay Thai rules and 2 and 4 being MMA rules.

On the other hand, Aljamain Sterling is out of his highly anticipated rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 267 due to injury.