Sterling recalls Sandhagen's blunt 'congrats, you f*cking asshole' after UFC 250 submission

Aljamain Sterling choked out Cory Sandhagen in under 90 seconds at UFC 250 in June 2020, and it turns out Sandhagen had a memorably blunt reaction when the two met again later that evening.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sterling recalled spotting Sandhagen in the courtyard after the bantamweight main-card bout and receiving a message that made him laugh.

“I saw him later that night in the courtyard and basically he said, ‘Congrats, you f*cking asshole,’” Sterling said. “I was just like, ‘Fair.’ What can I say to that? You got it. I’ll take that.”

The fight itself was a statement performance. Sterling grounded Sandhagen and locked in a rear-naked choke, finishing the bout in 87 seconds to cement his status as the rightful No. 1 contender for Petr Yan’s bantamweight title — a shot he would eventually convert into championship gold.

The anecdote surfaced during a broader conversation about sportsmanship in MMA, prompted by Andre Fili’s conduct at UFC Vegas 122 the previous Saturday. Fili knocked out Kai Kamaka III with a head kick and immediately pulled back when he recognised Kamaka was unconscious, later explaining: “I’m a criminal, but I’m not a piece of shit.”

Sterling, who has been on the receiving end of two knockout losses himself — including a brutal knee KO against Marlon Moraes — praised Fili’s restraint while acknowledging the instinct to follow up can be hard to override.

“It reminds me of my fight with Marlon Moraes, after the knee landed, he just looked and was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s dead,’” Sterling said. “So Fili ran over like he was about to hit him one more time in case he woke up and he was just like, ‘He’s already out, this guy’s done.’ So good on him, good control for him to do that.”

Sterling was clear that the responsibility doesn’t always fall on the fighter, but credited Fili for choosing accountability over deflection.

“The guy’s got a family, man. So I always respect that, because you could easily go it’s the ref’s fault, you could easily go it’s Herb Dean’s fault for not pulling me off and go the Derrick Lewis route like that’s not my fault — so kudos to him for that.”