UFC star Aljamain Sterling says the haircut incident with high school wrestler Andrew Johnson is "so f*cked up" ... but he was so impressed with the kid, he wants to train him personally.
"It's so messed up on so many levels," Sterling tells TMZ Sports ... "I felt bad."
Sterling says he's spent a lot of time coaching high school wrestling and has NEVER seen a situation where an athlete was forced to cut his hair.
In fact, Sterling says if he was the coach that day, he would have pulled his team out of the gym in protest and forfeited the rest of the match.
"We're not gonna stand for no sh*t like this," Sterling says.
The good news ... Sterling trains with other huge UFC stars like Al Iaquinta and Chris Weidman with the Serra-Longo fight team in Long Island, NY -- not too far from Johnson's high school in New Jersey.
Sterling says he's already reaching out to Johnson to figure out a way to train together -- and hopes he can help the kid grow from this experience ... through some friendly combat.