Aljamain Sterling addresses UFC not allowing Funk Harbor liquor bottles at presser

Aljamain
Sterling is not one to create a ruckus if he can help
it. 

Sterling (26-5) dominantly defeated Youssef
Zalal at
UFC Fight Night 274 last weekend. Something unusual occurred at
the pre-fight press conference that captured the attention of fans
and pundits. Sterling had placed two bottles of his “Funk Harbor”
liquor in front of him at the presser. However, a UFC staff member
suddenly asked Sterling to remove the bottles, and “Funkmaster”
obliged without any fuss. 

Sterling recently revealed that he had permission from
UFC executive Hunter Campbell to display his bottles, which he
had been doing for his past few fights. Sterling claims he has
barely had any issues with the UFC staff, barring a stray incident
when he was bantamweight champion. Sterling says the UFC staff
member who recently asked him to remove the bottles later made it
up to him. According to Sterling, he could have easily gotten
confrontational, but decided not to, as it wouldn’t have helped
anyone.

A Solid Relationship

“That was a weird one,” Sterling said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“Hunter told me I could do it in the past and I’ve done it for the
last four fights. I was kind of confused… They were like, ‘It’s not
a sponsor.’… I was like, ‘You’re lucky I love you Nabi.’ They
take care of us behind the scenes. They are always pleasant for me
to work with. I’ve had only one incident with one other worker
before… They were being kind of an a**.  And I was champ at
that time and they were trying to violate me. I was like, ‘Bro, na
we’re not doing that.’ I just try to handle everything with class
as best as I can. I could easily flip the script and just be that
guy. But it doesn’t get anybody anywhere. She did right by me
afterwards and allowed me to take some photos with the UFC team.
She made up for it, and I spoke to her afterwards.”

Since the UFC 2015 deal with Reebok, fighters are not allowed to
wear logos of private sponsors on their gear, limiting their
sponsorship opportunities.