Featherweight champ Ilia Topuria recently stunned fans with an impressive performance after taking down BMF titleholder Max Holloway. The fighter impressed a lot of fans and fighters, including Aljamain Sterling.
The bout took place at the UFC 308 tournament main event and was a night of exhilarating fights. Topuria displayed his “Matador” skills as he led Holloway to the slaughter and finished him with savage strikes in the third round. The defeat was Holloway’s first career knockout, and it established Topuria as one of the most deadly strikers in the sport. Nevertheless, Sterling still believes he can take the champ on despite being impressed by his skills.
“I ain’t standing with that guy. I would never stand and trade with that guy!” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “saw comments from the reaction, ‘You should change weight classes.’ I thought that was so funny… I made a joke, ‘I want to go back to 135.’ [Laughs] … “I’ll point to the ground but I’ll do my running man dance instead.”
Aljamain Sterling famously moved to featherweight in April, defeating Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. As of now, the former bantamweight champion is set to meet Movsar Evloev in December at UFC 310. Sterling believes that a victory over the undefeated Russian could set the stage for a meeting with Ilia Topuria. “The Funkmaster” believes he can give Topuria a run for his money.
“ If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro! I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that. But, I think it’s cool that people were even mentioning that [fight]. That would be a crazy match for multiple reasons… But, I’ve got one tough opponent in front of me [right now], and we’ll go from there.”
Sterling lost his belt to Sean O’Malley at the UFC 292 and moved to featherweight shortly after. He left the bantamweight division for his friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili, who dethroned O’Malley.
“Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into,” Sterling said. “… Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”
Well, Ilia Topuria looks to be in the hunt for a rematch against Alexander Volkanovski, but Aljamain Sterling got Movsar Evloev next. There is no telling if this matchup will ever come to fruition, but fans are hopeful.
