Kevin Vallejos trolls Aljamain Sterling: "Dana told me that Dan Miragliotta will be my referee"

Kevin Vallejos knows exactly where Aljamain Sterling is most dangerous — and exactly which referee Sterling never wants to see near it.

Sterling, the former bantamweight champion, spent the days after UFC Vegas 123 raging at Dan Miragliotta's second-round stand-up of Renato Moicano off Tom Nolan's back, body triangle and all. On his YouTube channel, he said the intervention left him so angry he considered entering the octagon himself.

"I felt like I was close to storming that cage," Sterling said. "I was angry, I was fuming. Even this morning, I was daydreaming: what possessed this man to do such a thing? Criminal."

Vallejos, who faces Sterling in the co-main event of UFC Qatar on November 21 at the ABHA Arena in Doha, answered the only way an 18-1 prospect with a joke to make could. On X, he wrote: "Dana told me that Dan Miragliotta will be my referee 😂"

It is a joke, and it is aimed precisely. Back control is the strongest part of Sterling's grappling — the same back control Miragliotta broke up in the Moicano–Nolan fight, after which Nolan stopped Moicano at 1:28 of round three. Vallejos is telling the former champion, in public, that the one position he relies on most might not be safe in their fight either. No referee assignment has been confirmed; nobody has said Miragliotta will work the bout. The post is the troll, not the news.

The bout itself is pivotal. Sterling (26-5) is a former bantamweight champion continuing his featherweight campaign, and Vallejos (18-1) is the 18-1 prospect standing between him and a title shot. Vallejos signed a new UFC contract last week — "WE just signed a new deal with the UFC. I can't believe how much money I'm getting paid to fight" — and he is already looking past Sterling: "Guys if WE beat Sterling, WE get Volk." Alexander Volkanovski kept the featherweight title against Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 and has said Sterling deserves the next title shot if he beats Vallejos, with Jean Silva next if Sterling loses.

So the stakes are real even if the referee joke is not. Sterling needs the win to keep his route to Volkanovski open. Vallejos needs it to jump the line himself. And for three weeks, every time the stand-up comes up, Vallejos will be there to remind Sterling who broke it up.