Vinicius
Oliveira is calling out Aljamain
Sterling for a featherweight matchup.
Oliveira had recently admitted that his days at bantamweight were
numbered. Oliveira’s latest loss to Mario
Bautista earlier this month was seemingly the final nail in the
coffin. “LokDog” is now calling for a featherweight matchup against
former
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight champion Aljamain
Sterling.
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“New category, common opponents with zero risk, fight more times in
a year, make more money, reach the belt faster, not to mention that
I’m hearing @funkmasterMMA has nightmares about me and already
warned his friend @MerabDvalishvili about it — if he wants it, I
want it,” Oliveira wrote on X.
Sterling downplayed the callout, saying:
“Lol bruuh… cmon man. Don’t do that.”
Oliveira responded:
“I want new challenges. You’re still a champion, you spoke well of
me, I admire that, but you’re the only good guy in the 66kg weight
class that I know, so that’s what I want.”
Oliveira then hinted that some within that UFC brass don’t like
Sterling and offered to gradually eliminate “Funkmaster.” Oliveira
wrote:
@funkmasterMMA
, I’ve heard that some people at the UFC don’t like u, i dunno if
it’s true, but @danawhite
, if u want, I can take care of eliminating him little by little
until he gives up.— Vinicius „LokDog“ Oliveira (@LokdogVinicius)
February 17, 2026
Oliveira (23-4) was undefeated in four UFC outings going into the
toughest test of his career against Bautista. The Brazilian looked
simply out of his depth en route to a second-round submission loss.
Sterling (25-5) has sandwiched a loss against Movsar
Evloev between wins over Calvin
Kattar and Brian
Ortega since moving up to featherweight in 2024.