Aljamain Sterling is determined to leave the bantamweight for good and permanently stay in featherweight.
Sterling is leaving the bantamweight division after experiencing a loss to Sean O’Malley, who snatched the belt away from him at UFC 292. The former champ, nonetheless, sees a promising future at 145, where he will face Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 for his class weight debut. Some might think of the shift as a temporary exploration of the fighter after his recent defeat, but for the 34-year-old, it is the new and official chapter of his MMA career.
According to “Funk Master,” he encountered requests to return to the division, but he decided to leave it, adding his last fight versus O’Malley was not something he really wanted to push.
“Safe to say (I’m done at bantamweight),” Sterling revealed to MMA Junkie. “One of my managers was asking about that, about going down to 135, and I said, ‘Brother, let’s stop this conversation right here.’
“There’s no more 135. I didn’t even want to do it the last time. Whatever, I’m not going to bring it up again because people are going to say I’m making excuses, but this is all factual, but 135 is done.”
Despite departing from the class weight where he spent years of his career, Sterling is positive about the decision, promising fans that he will “shock the world” in his return. In his earlier interview, the former champ discussed his plans against Kattar, whom he expects to submit in the first or second round of the fight. In the future, at 145, Sterling said he also expects a rematch against O’Malley, who formerly expressed interest in fighting in featherweight if Ilia Topuria could take down Alexander Volkanovski.
