Aljamain
Sterling claims he never gets opponents of his
choice.
Sterling defeated former
UFC champion Benson
Henderson in a wrestling match via fall at RAF 6 on Saturday.
The former UFC bantamweight champion is now calling for a
featherweight title shot against Alexander
Volkanovski. Sterling also slammed Diego
Lopes’ performance in his title rematch against Volkanovski at
UFC 325 this past January.
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“I’ve been with the company since 2014, been calling my shot,
defending the belt the most in the bantamweight division,” Sterling
said at the said at the RAF post-fight press conference.
“Give me my f——ing shot. I deserve a shot at the title, OG vs OG.
I’m smarter than all these dumb motherf—-ers out there… Diego Lopes
gets a f—-ng rematch, and he goes out there and fights worse after
actually doing decent in the first fight. He can’t figure out how
to do a lateral step to cut the cage.”
‘I’ve Never Turned Down Anybody’
Sterling is also ready to take on featherweight contenders like
Yair
Rodriguez, Jean Silva
or Youssef
Zalal. “Funkmaster” claims he has never turned down a fight
despite being offered unfavorable matchups. Sterling believes the
UFC brass never offers him opponents of his choice as they want to
see him lose.
“You want to give me Yair Rodriguez? I’ll fight him,” Sterling
said. “You want to give me Jean Silva? I’ll fight him. You gonna
give me Youssef Zalal? I’ll fight him. I’ve never turned down
anybody. These guys have asked me for opponents who I want to
fight, and then they give me somebody complete opposite. Because
they want to see me lose. That’s my perspective.”
Sterling (25-5) won the bantamweight title against Petr Yan via
disqualification in 2021 and defended it thrice before losing it to
Sean O’Malley in 2023. Sterling then moved up to featherweight,
where he has sandwiched a loss against Movsar
Evloev between wins over Calvin
Kattar and Brian
Ortega. The 36-year-old has often been criticiized for inaction
with his wrestling-heavy style.