In a video posted after UFC 321, Sterling questioned how quickly Aspinall opted out of the fight. “Was he milking it? Was he using his best Aljamain Sterling acting attributes to take home the gold?” Sterling asked. “From what he posted, it looks like everything is okay. He wasn’t even complaining about that eye.”
Sterling pointed to one key phrase in particular “I can’t see.”“You can’t say, ‘I can’t see.’ We know that is the nail in the coffin,” he said. “If you actually want your five minutes to try to recover, you can’t use those words.”
When the resurfaced comments were labeled one of the worst takes in MMA discourse following news of Aspinall’s surgeries, Sterling didn’t walk them back.