{"id":203645,"date":"2016-09-09T08:57:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=203645"},"modified":"2016-09-09T08:57:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T15:57:33","slug":"aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On November 12, the UFC will set up shop in New York City&#8217;s Madison Square Garden with <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/conor-mcgregor\/rumor-conor-mcgregor-will-return-november-headline-ufc-205-new-york\/\">UFC 205<\/a>. This week, this anticipated card&#8217;s first match-ups were announced.<\/p>\n<p>First, we learned that the card would feature <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/thiago-alves\/thiago-alves-vs-al-iaquinta-scheduled-ufc-205-nyc\/\">a lightweight bout between Al Iaquinta and Thiago Alves<\/a>. Days later, we learned that a long-rumored bout between Robbie Lawler and Donald &#8220;Cowboy&#8221; Cerrone had been <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc-205\/official-robbie-lawler-donald-cowboy-cerrone-will-go-war-nyc\/\">made official<\/a> for the event. We&#8217;re also <a href=\"http:\/\/UFC 205, which will go down on November 12 and will mark\">hearing whispers<\/a> that former middleweight champion will fight Yoel Romero or Ronaldo &#8220;Jacare&#8221; Souza on the card.<\/p>\n<p>Given that today&#8217;s typical UFC card features anywhere from 11-14 fights, we can expect plenty more fights to be added to the UFC 205 lineup in the coming days. UFC bantamweight Aljamain Sterling (12-1), who is a native of New York, is hoping to be included in one of those fights \u2013 and he has some potential opponents in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Sterling discussed these desires on the latest episode of the <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ufc-unfiltered-jim-norton\/id1124228879?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\">UFC Unfiltered Podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;I want Dana White to know that I&#8217;m looking for a fight right now,&#8221; Sterling said on the show. &#8220;UFC, MSG,\u00a0November 12, I want to be on the New York card with my Serra-Longo brothers. Chris Weidman, Gian Villante, Al Iaquinta. I think this is going to be a historic event and I don&#8217;t think there is going to be another time when we all get to fight with each other on the same card.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As far as prospective opponents go, Sterling offered up two names that interest him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;I want to fight Raphael Assuncao or Michael McDonald,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Those are the two fights that I think make sense for me right now. I think if I beat Raphael I think it puts me right back in title contention. I think if I beat a former title challenger in Michael McDonald then I still think it puts me back in the mix. Those are the guys I want, man.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When we last saw Sterling, he experienced his first career loss, giving up a decision to unsung contender Bryan Caraway. Assuncao (23-5), meanwhile, last appeared at July&#8217;s UFC 200, when he was out-hustled by former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. MacDonald (17-4), finally, was also last seen in July, when he was levelled by absurdly powerful former flyweight John Lineker.<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to see Aljamain Sterling added to the UFC 205 bill? If so, who do you think he should fight? Sound off, PENN nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On November 12, the UFC will set up shop in New York City&#8217;s Madison Square Garden with UFC 205. This week, this anticipated card&#8217;s first match-ups were announced. First, we learned that the card would feature a lightweight bout between Al Iaquinta and Thiago Alves. Days later, we learned that a long-rumored bout between Robbie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":138814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10163],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On November 12, the UFC will set up shop in New York City&#8217;s Madison Square Garden with UFC 205. 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Days later, we learned that a long-rumored bout between Robbie [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-09T15:57:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Aljamain-Sterling-WINS.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-09T15:57:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-09T15:57:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\"},\"wordCount\":408,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Aljamain Sterling\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\",\"name\":\"Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-09T15:57:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-09T15:57:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/aljamain-sterling-wants-rafael-assuncao-michael-mcdonald-nyc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Aljamain Sterling\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/aljamain-sterling\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Aljamain Sterling Wants Rafael Assuncao or Michael McDonald in NYC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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