Sterling is embarrassed for Rivera: ‘Who has their girlfriend defending them on Twitter?’

Aljamain Sterling called out Jimmie Rivera for having his wife defend him on social media.

The fact that Aljamain Sterling is booked to fight Rani Yahya in at UFC Fight Night 123 hasn’t stopped the bantamweight contender from hyping a potential bout with Jimmie Rivera.

Sterling and Rivera have a rivalry dating back to their days on the local MMA circuit but, for one reason or another, a bout between the two bantamweights had never materialized.

With the rivalry still strong, both men recently traded barbs on social media, but things turned awkward when Rivera’s wife stepped in to defend her husband.

Sterling, who hopes to fight ‘El Terror’ after disposing of Yahya, was caught off guard by Samantha Rivera’s comments and said it was embarrassing.

“Who has their girlfriend defending them on Twitter if they’re a fighter,” Sterling said at a recent Q&A in Gdansk, Poland, per Simon Samano of MMA Junkie. “We’re going to fight – not me and your girlfriend, your wife, whatever. That shit doesn’t make sense to me.

“I saw him before I came out here. And I’m a very nice guy in person. I just said, ‘What’s up, Jimmie? And he looks at me, giving me this weird face like he doesn’t want to say anything, kind of rolls his eyes, walks away, turns back around, and says, ‘It’s not me you should be worried about; it’s my wife.’ And I’m just like, ‘Oh my God, you’re such a (expletive).’ Who says that?”

Rivera, who is on a massive 20-fight win streak, is booked to fight Dominick Cruz at UFC 219 on Dec. 30 and has yet to reply to Sterling’s comments.

Sterling, 28, will take on Yahya at UFC Fight Night 123 on Dec. 9 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California and, after that, has every intention of putting Rivera in his place.

“There’s nobody in the top 10 for me to fight,” he said. “So what I plan on doing, I’m gonna try to take a dump on Rani Yahya, then I want to fight that f—king (expletive) Jimmie Rivera.”