Although Aljamain Sterling may not be in Dana White’s good book, he believes he has more of an advantage than Movsar Evloev.
Aljamain Sterling is set to face Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 and feels his opponent hasn’t put up a good fight in his last couple of bouts despite having an 8-0 record. Evloev has not had one finish in his career, which has caused a stir in the MMA community, including Dana White, who gave him a tongue-lashing for his dull performance during his fight with Arnold Allen.
“That was the least fun fight anybody has ever seen,” White said about Evloev vs. Allen. “Do you know who lost that fight? The fans.”
Although Sterling has had his fair share of trouble with White, he feels that Evloev might be in bigger trouble than him. He considered Evloev an efficient fighter, but his lack of finishes portrays a lack of skills and tends to bore the audience.
“I can appreciate a technical fight,” Sterling said. “I wouldn’t really consider him boring. But, I think Dana saying that the fight with Arnold Allen was boring was kind of a stretch. I think most people would agree with that.
“I think it’s probably more his dislike for Movsar. And, I think he might dislike him more than me. That’s a good thing!”
“Eight fights, no finishes, all decisions,” Sterling said. “I at least got a couple of finishes in there, especially at the beginning of my career when the competition isn’t as tough. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to separate yourself from the competition, and I’ve been able to do that.
“Fighting the best guys, it’s not easy to finish the best guys in the world, but I look forward to doing that Saturday night against Movsar.”
The two fighters are top contenders for the title, and their bout was supposed to determine the winner who’d get a title shot, but it was moved to the prelim card. Sterling believes this shift is due to White’s dislike of both athletes’ grappling-heavy fighter styles.
“I don’t really understand what’s happening because I haven’t spoken to the UFC about it,” Sterling said. “But nothing changes. I get paid the same money. It doesn’t matter where your placement is on the card. Your contract is your contract.
“The one thing I will say is more people watching on the prelims, generally. The only thing for me is that the crowd in Vegas, which kind of sucks. Everyone is out partying. They had fancy dinners. They’re doing all kinds of weird stuff because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and then they come to the main card. So maybe the arena won’t be as packed. That’s the only bummer about it. Other than that, it’s lit either way. I’m going to party, hang out afterwards with my friends and family, drink some Funk Harbor and celebrate a ‘W.’”
Sterling’s latest move to prelim caused an uproar in the MMA world, as many fans, including MMA veteran Matt Brown, spoke against it. They believe the fighter deserved better and should have gotten a spot on the main card. This support was surprising to Sterling, as he hasn’t had much support from fans since winning the UFC bantamweight title by disqualification in 2021.
“Thankfully they’ve gotten behind me a couple of times since my move up,” Sterling said about UFC fans. “It’s like as soon as I lost the belt, they started coming around again.
“I remember when I beat [Cory] Sandhagen, Pedro Munhoz, and then Sandhagen, I was like the uncrowned people’s champ. Then I got kneed in the head and somehow became the villain overnight. But it is what it is. It’s nice to see.”
Sterling is confident he will perform a stellar performance that’ll make White regret his decisions.
