Midnight Mania! Aljo Talks Tate Controversy: I Never Victim-Blamed Anybody!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Aljamain Sterling’s second UFC Bantamweight title defense opposite TJ Dillashaw is fast-approaching, as the pair are set to collide this weekend (Sat. Oct. 22, 2022) at UFC 280 from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, Dubai. Before “Aljo” gets down to business, however, he first had to clear the air about some recent controversy.

Just a few days ago, Sterling took some pictures with highly controversial kickboxer and Internet figure Andrew Tate. MMA fans were immediately pissed, which led to debates on Twitter. Primarily, Tate’s opinion on the “personal responsibility” of rape victims was brought up, and Sterling didn’t do the best job establishing whether or not he agreed with the widely banned social media star.

Sterling explained that he was disagreeing with Tate’s victim-blaming stance and elaborated in more than 200 characters at Wednesday’s media conference.

“I have 14-plus sisters,” Sterling said (via MMAJunkie). “I love my mom. I would never tell my mom that if anything like that happened to them that, ‘It’s your fault.’ That’s just the craziest thing to ever say to anybody.

“That’s like, if you’re in the hood, and you’re walking down a nice neighborhood or something, and you’re a person of color, and you get shot because you have a hoodie on, that I’m telling you it’s your fault because you’re walking down the street. That doesn’t even make any sense. Why would I ever blame the victim? No, it’s the person that’s not taking the time to understand.

“So the clarity on that is I never victim-blamed anybody. I think that’s the craziest thing to even make an assumption like that and if you don’t understand what I said, ask me to clarify. Don’t start jumping the gun and start throwing labels and s—t like that.”

Sterling faced quite a bit of backlash after posting the photo, and he blames that on the judgmental nature of the world and Internet today. Per the Bantamweight champ, there’s no second-thought given before people immediately go on the offensive.

“I think people are really crazy, and I think that’s the problem with the world today,” Sterling said. “We are so quick to condemn people instead of actually giving people a chance to reason and analyze what people are saying vs. assuming and just making a judgment and being completely wrong.

“That’s just the world that we live in today. I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon. With that said, hopefully T.J. Dillashaw moves the needle this weekend at UFC 280.”

Insomnia

UFC fighters adapting to fighting in Abu Dhabi is quite the sight to behold.

Deontay Wilder vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Belal Muhammad WENT TOO DAMN FAR!

I really hope Francis Ngannou is booked sooner than later to defend his Heavyweight title. “The Predator” is worth every dollar!

Kron Gracie vs. Bryce Mitchell would actually be a neat fight.

Good humor and sportsmanship from both combatants!

PED controversies aside, TJ Dillashaw loves weird training methods more than most.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This cage side clip of Sean O’Malley absolutely sparking Thomas Almeida is actually pretty damn nasty.

Enjoy the ten fastest knockouts in UFC history:

Poor dude walked directly into a painful right hand.

Random Land

Baby whales!

Midnight Music: Funk, 1972

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.