Ray Longo praised his star students, Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling, for never fighting each other.
When Sterling was bantamweight champion, streaking contender Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) refused to fight his teammate for the title, which UFC CEO Dana White heavily criticized.
But after Sterling lost his bantamweight title and moved up to featherweight, the door opened for Dvalishvili, who was declared No. 1 contender for his impressive win over Henry Cejudo this past Saturday at UFC 298.
“To me, this is going to go down as one of the greatest human interest stories in MMA,” Longo said in a recent episode of the “Anik & Florian” podcast. “How these two guys formed a brotherhood and they didn’t succumb to all the bullsh*t. They didn’t sell out for $100,000.
“They put their friendship first and now everything’s working out, and they had to take a lot of sh*t for it. Aljo got tortured over it. Merab got tortured. Whether they want to say it or not, actions speak louder than words. We don’t have to hear it. We could see it. Aljo held to his word. He didn’t have to move up. He wanted to move up. He wants to see Merab get that shot.”
Sterling makes his 145-pound debut against perennial contender Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 on April 13. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili awaits the winner of the bantamweight title fight between champion Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera, which headlines UFC 299 on March 9 in Miami.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.