Following his UFC 310 loss, Aljamain Sterling is starting to reconsider his career and what the future holds for him.
UFC fighter Aljamain Sterling made his UFC debut in the featherweight division where he battled Movsar Evloev, but the bout ended in a loss for him. The former bantamweight champion had a good run in his division but has suffered back-to-back defeats in his last three fights. The 35-year’s latest loss has fans wondering if he’ll ever get a title shot after his recent loss.
“When we were in the back room, [Coach Ray Longo] had just stepped out, and I told the guys, I was like, ‘I’m going to let you guys know I don’t really know what I’m going to do from here.” Sterling said on his ‘The Weekly Scraps Podcast’. “I need to let it settle a little bit, but at 35, I don’t know if I really want to climb the ladder all over again,’” Sterling said. “I don’t want to say from scratch, but the end goal is much further. I’m at a point where it’s, like, is that worth the time invested for the surgeries, the pain, the training, the sacrifice?
“Do I still have that fight to commit to doing that all the way up until the belt again, knowing that there’s still a good chance like there’s still some other dogs that I could potentially fight and not have the fight go my way. So I’m not ignorant of that. It’s just kind of like making a decision. Do I continue, or do I just help out the guys and help them get ready for their fights and whatnot and maybe just take fun fights? I don’t know, I don’t want to retire, but I’ve got to see what the UFC offers and then kind of make a decision to go from there to see where my position is.”
Sterling says that his latest loss may lead to him moving up the ranking but acknowledges that it is only through sheer willpower and determination that he can achieve his goal of being a two-weight champion.
“It’s tough to even talk like this because I’m only 35,” Sterling said “I know people think like you still look good and everything, but my body hurts. I can’t train the way I used to. I used to do two or three training sessions a day. But, I can’t do that no more. Even the grappling sessions that I would do to make ‘35, I feel like I can’t do that anymore. I can’t train the way I used to, and I don’t know if that gave me an edge or just broke my body down more, but that’s where I am at. So I’ve just got to see where the chips fall and go from there.”
“I don’t know. I’m still kind of torn about the third round,” Sterling said. “I can see how they gave him the third, though, but I’m still kind of like, three-and-a-half minutes versus a minute and a half. I know he was throwing the little busy punches, but I don’t know. I’m still kind of torn. I feel like I landed the more effective strikes in the beginning on the feet. The big slam. I felt I slammed him on his head.
“It is what it is, I get it. I’m not too torn about, but I can see why there are a lot of people split like I should have won the third. I did wish I got a Ciryl Gane decision and got the nod for that one. … I think this one thing in the back of my mind is like, I just think we’ve got to do it again. And, I really do. The guy’s good. I still think I can beat him. I still really believe I can beat him. But, I don’t think that that fight left me like I’m not on his level, I can’t become a champion in this weight class. I felt like there left more to be desired after that from myself.”
Sterling dropped to 1-1 since moving to featherweight this past April. After losing the bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley via knockout at UFC 292, Sterling bounced back with a decision win over ranked 145-pound fighter Calvin Kattarat at UFC 300.
