Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili are extremely good friends — so good that when Sterling was bantamweight champion, Dvalishvili repeatedly insisted he would not fight for the title. After Aljo lost to Sean O’Malley, Merab easily took the belt off “Suga,” proving it was only friendship keeping him from the top.
Now it’s Sterling that’s showing off his loyalty to Dvalishvili by stepping in and replacing his friend as coach on the third season of Hype Reality — often referred to as ‘Russian TUF.’
Dvalishvili reportedly left Hype Reality in a lurch by withdrawing from a coaching spot opposite Petr Yan at the last minute. That left them scrambling for a new coach, and now they’ve found a pretty fitting choice in Sterling. Not only is he a close friend of Dvalishvili, he who won the bantamweight title off Yan in 2021 after the Russian hit him with an illegal knee.
In the first clip from Hype Reality announcing the coach swap, Petr handed Aljo an Academy Awards Oscar statue and Aljo got on his knees to recreate the position he was in when Petr hit him. It was all smiles and laughs … but will it stay that way?
There still hasn’t been any official comment from Dvalishvili as to why he ended up withdrawing from his coaching gig on Hype Reality. Does it have to do with continued protests in Merab’s home country of Georgia against alleged Russian interference in a recent election? Some sort of disrespect levied at Dvalishvili that he could not overlook?
Look, man. Merab’s crazy. Do you want us to explain the mind of f—king Merab?
We’ll update you if the bantamweight champion comments on his withdrawal from Hype Reality, and keep sharing any further crazy clips from the Russian TUF clone.
