“He’s gotta stop with this bulls**t,” Aljamain Sterling has firm opinions on the oblique kick ban

Aljamain Sterling is clearly not a fan of the whole oblique kick ban situation, and he is candid about it.

Aljamain Sterling Wants Fighters to Take Accountability in Oblique Kick Controversy

The former bantamweight champion has recently expressed his opinions about Andy Foster’s demands, and they’re not sweet at all. This controversy started taking shape after Brunno Ferreira’s bout with Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC 331. During the fight, Ferreira made use of some oblique kicks.  Shahbazyan was not happy about it.

Being under the false impression that the move was illegal, he proceeded to protest. Following this, the California Athletic Commission Director Andy Foster announced that he would be looking at banning the technique altogether.

This quickly became a topic for substantial discourse, especially after receiving Dana White’s support. Aljamain Sterling, however, doesn’t quite align himself with this view.

“He’s gotta stop with this bulls**t,”. He said during his appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show”.

He pushed back against Andy Foster’s “This is a kick that has a long healing time” narrative too. 

“It takes too long to recover? I mean, how do you recover from CTE? What the f*ck are we talking about?”, he exclaimed. “We’re getting head kicked with no shin pads on. We’re getting elbowed to the dome multiple times because referees want to watch a murder scene in real time happen”.

“An oblique kick? Move your leg out the f*cking way. How about that?”  Sterling believes the lack of accountability among fighters is to blame.

“Can we fix accountability for following the rules first before we start trying to add new rules and change stuff?,” he continued.  "This is a scary sport. We know what we signed up for. You guys wanna watch us play paddle ball? What the f*ck?”

His disagreement with Andy Foster is understandable in some ways, but so are the latter’s arguments.

Andy Foster Wants Oblique Kicks Gone From the UFC

Despite Funk Master’s strong opposing views, it is true nonetheless that such kicks do possess immense power. That power isn’t just to help secure a win but to sabotage the opponent’s performance long-term.  From Thiago Santos to Darren Till, all seem to have had their mobility and career trajectory heavily altered after absorbing significant oblique kicks in the cage.

“I think that there are more risks than we should require our fighters to have to deal with to participate in mixed martial arts," Foster said.

“Somebody could have a lifelong injury from this, that they're gonna deal with way after this is over. It's not worth it.” This situation has quickly become the subject of heavy discussion. Its implications, however, will only be visible with time.