At 36 years old, Aljamain Sterling is honest about where he’s at in his career.
Sterling sent a message to his doubters and the featherweight division by securing his second consecutive win this past weekend.
With callouts of Movsar Evloev and Alexander Volkanovski, Sterling is still motivated to keep testing himself against the best in the world.
However, a loss to Youssef Zalal in Las Vegas could have drastically altered this stance depending on the manner of the defeat.
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Is UFC Vegas 116 headliner Aljamain Sterling the most underappreciated fighter on the roster? 🤔
‘Funk Master’ broke records during his bantamweight title reign and is now pursuing a second championship.
Aljamain Sterling says he wouldn’t have ‘stuck around’ if he’d lost to Youssef Zalal in significant fashion
Since moving up to featherweight in 2024, Aljamain Sterling has gone 3-1, with his only loss coming to top contender Movsar Evloev.
Despite this, Sterling entered his fourth fight in the weight class with an honest approach towards what he would do if he lost to Youssef Zalal.
The former bantamweight champion said during the post-fight show that making the decision to retire wasn’t off the table if he suffered a significant defeat.
“I’m not going to lie to you, definitely thoughts of retirement and things like that crossed my mind,” he said. “Depending on how I lost, if I were to lose, and just being realistic.
“If I can’t compete, I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s not that I don’t want to do it because there’s no future for it. It’s just if I can’t compete with these young guys, why are you sticking around just taking an a– whooping for no reason?”
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Who should Aljamain Sterling fight next?
After his win over Youssef Zalal at UFC Vegas 116, what fight makes the most sense for Aljamain Sterling?
Gilbert Burns said similar things after his loss to Mike Malott that led to him laying his gloves down inside the Octagon.
‘Durinho’ planned to compete three times this year but after being stopped by a fighter who wasn’t ranked heading into the matchup, he decided it was the right time to walk away.
Sterling said he was questioning whether his matchup with Zalal was going to be a passing of the torch fight at featherweight.
‘Funkmaster’ certainly showed on Saturday night that he’s not ready to do this just yet.
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