UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has revealed who he wants to fight next.
‘Funk Master’ is fresh off his return to action last month at UFC 280. Standing opposite the champion was T.J. Dillashaw, who had bad blood with Sterling heading in. Sadly for fans, the bout wasn’t exactly a thriller.
Instead, it was completely one-sided domination from the champion. In the opening seconds of the fight, Dillashaw dislocated his shoulder badly. While he attempted to fight on, he was battered, and eventually finished by TKO in round two.
Following the event, Dana White shed some light on who the 135-pound titleholder would face next. Surprisingly, the promoter tabbed the recently unretired Henry Cejudo as the next challenger. The move was surprising, given that Sean O’Malley had defeated Petr Yan in a title-eliminator matchup the same night.
Since then, Aljamain Sterling has been engaged in a war of words with ‘Triple C’. However, if it were up to him, he wouldn’t fight Cejudo next. Instead, Sterling would prefer to face ‘Sugar’, as he believes it’s a bigger money fight, as he revealed in an interview with TMZ Sports.
“I like money, money excites me, and if there’s a money fight it’s ‘Suga Tits’,” Sterling said. “The guy can fight. He’s got serious skills, and if we’re talking about the matchup that can go my way or really go the other way for him, that’s the matchup right there.” (h/t MMA News)
He continued, “Obviously if I take him down, it’s a bad night. I think O’Malley has decent skills off of his back, but I think I’d do the same thing to him and steamroll him as well. I can also see him catching me and winning, getting a crazy highlight…that would be the money fight.”
Regardless of what he wants, it seems unlikely that Aljamain Sterling will fight Sean O’Malley next. The champion recently came out and stated that he’s expecting to be out until midway through 2023. In response, Henry Cejudo has suggested an interim title fight with ‘Sugar’.
What do you make of these comments? Which fight do you want to see? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!