Why Aljamain Sterling will make championship weight next fight

Last week, on the heels of bantamweight UFC champion TJ Dillashaw vacating his title after clashing with UFC drug testing contractor USADA, Aljamain Sterling advocated for himself and fellow top contender Marlon Moraes fighting a rematch for the division’s belt. Moraes stopped Sterling in their 2017 contest, but since then the Serra-Longo team member has won three-straight fights.

Overall, he’s won five out of his last six contest. The streaking Moraes has won four straight, three by finish, so it made sense that the pair be considered bantamweight’s top title contenders and a second outing with more on the line excited Sterling and, likely, many fans alike.

Fighting for the UFC championship is what every athlete dreams of when they get into the sport of MMA, Sterling told us last week. After all these years, training for a world championship just makes it all sweeter.

Alas, the UFC announced this week that two top bantamweight contenders will not be fighting one another for the division’s championship, next. Instead, flyweight champion Henry Cejudo will move up after just one title defense and has been granted a shot at the vacant bantamweight crown in a June 8 Chicago contest against Moraes.

Sterling tells us this week that, though he’d hoped to get a crack at gold, next, and certainly believes he deserves it, he isn’t surprised at the latest turn of events.

I just assumed they were having some difficulty getting contracts signed on both sides so I was hoping for my Colby Covington moment where, like what happened with him this last time, someone wouldn’t be able to come to terms with the UFC and then like Kamaru Usman, I’d be able to step in, he admits. It was wishful thinking. I always knew I was going to have to fight one more time, win, and look good doing it, to get the title fight. This is what happened. It’s just back to square one.

With that said, Sterling insists that his training focus and intensity isn’t dampened in the least. If things go his way, he’ll get to fight on the same card as Cejudo and Moraes June 8 in Chicago, and will also be ready at championship weight just in case anything else suddenly changes.

I’m still pretty motivated, he continues. I’m hoping I can get a fight on that title card with Marlon and Cejudo and potentially be the guy to step up, next. If anything goes wrong, I also plan on making championship weight.

I know I’m right there, one more right. At the end of the day, I’ve faced so many obstacles in life, especially that knockout from Marlon, I know nothing can keep me down. You see so many guys who, after they get knocked out, they’re not the same guy. I came back, have won three-straight. I truly believe his KO over me is as flukey as it gets. He even said that, though now he’s changing his tune, which is super interesting. I was only repeating what the guy said, not talking $#!@. It’s silly. Anyway, time reveals all things. I’m still plugging along, just training, and getting better. I’m going to be ready to do some real Jamaican Spiderman shit out there, next time.

In addition to his own training, Sterling has kept extra busy with interesting side projects, including his Vlog/Podcast, The Weekly Scraps. On the show, Sterling provides analysis of fights as well as insight into his own life and career, offering fans opportunities to directly engage with him.

It’s been tough but fun to do, he says. It’s been tough to figure out the little technical nuances of getting a video uploaded correctly, an hour and fifteen-minute podcast. It’s tough and painful to figure out but it’s also been fun, and another way to engage with fans.

I have a segment called Funk Bandits where anybody who has a question for me can send it to me on social media using the hashtag, #AskTheWeeklyScraps. I get to talk about fights on the show, which gives me extra incentive to watch all the fights and improves my knowledge and helps me get better at breaking down what I’m looking at. It helps me with coaching, as an analyst, and who knows, maybe it can grow into something larger one day.

About the author:

Elias Cepeda writes a regular column for The UG Feed; you can find Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda.