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UFC president Dana White cannot wrap his head around the bond between Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili. White insulted Dvalishvili for putting Sterling's world title ambitions ahead of his own in the aftermath of UFC 292.

Sterling's reign as bantamweight champion interfered with Dvalishvili's title pursuit as the close friends were unwilling to fight each other. In a perfect world, Sterling would have vacated the title and moved up to featherweight after defeating Sean O'Malley. But "Suga's" thrilling second-round knockout threw a wrench in those plans. Both Sterling and Dvalishvili want a crack at the new champ but are willing to concede priority for the other.

"I hate it," White said during Tuesday's "Contender Series" post-fight press conference. "Why did you even get into this sport if that's your mentality in the way that you think? 'I don't even want the title, I don't want the championship. We're friends, we're this, we're that.'

"There are a lot of nice people in this business. A lot of good people. This is not about friendship. It's about finding out who the best in the world is. And if you don't want to find out who the best in the world is this is not the place for you. You should be somewhere else. There are plenty of places to fight where they don't give a shit what you do. Doesn't work here."

Dvalishvil was outraged with the referee stoppage at UFC 292 despite a general consensus that Sterling lost fairly. Dvalishvili recently said that he is willing to stay sidelined while Sterling avenges his loss to O'Malley.

"After Aljamain Sterling, I am the No. 1 contender. We all know that," Dvalishvili previously told MMA Junkie. "I have a nine-fight winning streak and I beat two former champions, back to back. I fought everybody who they put in front of me… I think the right way is that Aljo comes back, beat O'Malley, gets his belt back, and I think after that he may go up a weight class.

"If he vacates the belt and takes a vacation or something, I will fight for the belt with whoever will be next. Now, I don't want to rush. I just don't want any stupid fight, you know, because the fight doesn't make sense. I don't want to fight somebody that has a loss. What does this fight get me?"

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Dvalishvili has not fought since March but sees no reason to take another fight until O'Malley vs. Sterling 2 concludes.

"I want to fight the top guys. I don't want to test, I'm tested already. I proved it. My last opponents I dominated..." Dvalishvili said. "I'm the next guy after Aljo. So a good way would be to give Aljo a rematch and after that, I'm just going to wait for my title fight, and we'll figure it out after. But I'm just going to fight for the title next – even if I have to wait a year or more."

Sterling said in advance of UFC 292 that there was a "99%" chance it would be his last bantamweight fight especially if he defeated O'Malley. Getting knocked out at 135 pounds has Sterling reconsidering if he'd truly thrive up a weight class. Sterling had a record-setting run as bantamweight champ and wants the next title shot, but he won't inconvenience his friend for long.

"I think there's only one name that comes to mind, and that's Aljamain Sterling in the rematch," Sterling said on his "Weekly Scraps" podcast. "All jokes aside, I think if I don't get the immediate rematch -- if they were to offer me that immediate rematch for December, I'm just going to have to respectfully decline; but if they were to do it early next year like January or February, I would accept it in a heartbeat.

"But if I'm not going to get the rematch, the next guy in line has to be Merab Dvalishvili. Has to be. No. 1 contender. I don't think any other matchup makes more sense than him."