Aljamain Sterling sees a win over Brian Ortega putting him in the UFC featherweight title picture.
Sterling (24-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC) meets former title challenger Ortega (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) Saturday at UFC Fight Night 257 from Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. Their matchup will be a five-round co-main event.
The former UFC bantamweight champion says he is on friendly terms with Ortega, which puts him in an unfamiliar spot. Although there are various contenders vying for a title shot, Sterling thinks a win over perennial contender Ortega puts him in the conversation.
“It was more so for the ranking that Brian had,” Sterling told MMA Junkie. “This is like the first person I’m going to fight that I’m cool with or have been cool with. This is going to be the most ‘friend’ type of fight that I’m ever going to have. He had the highest ranking at the time when I first came up to the division, and I wanted to have one fight and go straight to the title shot, but unfortunately it didn’t go that way. They gave him Diego Lopes instead, and then he got a title shot. It is what it is.
“Right now I think he’s ranked No. 4, I think I’m seventh or eighth. So, I think this is a big win for me to possibly get back into the top five. If I can do that, things are going to be looking pretty good for me to getting a title shot opportunity, probably at this point after Lerone Murphy. Then there’s Movsar (Evloev), then there’s Jean Silva vs. Diego, so there’s a lot of fun matchups happening at this weight class right now. I think for both Brian and I, this is one of those high-stakes matchups where winner takes all.”
Ortega is a proven jiu-jitsu threat, submitting the likes of former interim champion Yair Rodriguez, Cub Swanson, and Renato Moicano throughout his UFC career. However, if Sterling can get into his dominant grappling positions, he’s confident he’ll do well in the fight.
“I think it (grappling) matches up well, but he does have some tricky stuff off of his back,” Sterling said of Ortega. “On top, he’s pretty tough. He’s got a really nasty head-and-arm choke. I haven’t really seen him go for other submissions, maybe a guillotine and a triangle. But, for the most part, he seems pretty well versed with chokes, so I’ve got to be careful with that. I think my top pressure, my passing game should be good enough to get to some good, dominant positions. Hopefully I can get to where I’m really, really strong, which is side control or the back mount.”
