Aljamain Sterling wants his due from the UFC.
The former UFC bantamweight champion was fired up when discussing what could potentially be next for him after picking up a decisive unanimous decision over Brian Ortega at UFC Fight Night 257 last August. Sterling is 2-1 since moving up to 145 pounds, with the loss coming in a tightly contested battle against undefeated Movsar Evloev.
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Following his win over Benson Henderson at RAF 6 on Saturday, Sterling (20-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) called for a shot to reclaim the UFC’s 135-pound title.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, been with the company since 2014,” Sterling said after RAF 6 (h/t MMA Fighting). “I’ve been calling my shot, defended my belt the most in the bantamweight division, tied with a couple other greats like Merab Dvalishvili, consecutive title defenses. Give me my f*cking shot. I deserve a shot at the title. OG vs. OG. I’m smarter than all these dumb motherf*ckers out there. Excuse my French, but Diego Lopes gets a f*cking rematch, and he goes out there and fights worse! After actually doing decent in the first fight.
“Hurt him, and he can’t figure out how to do a lateral step to cut off the f*cking cage? Like, what are we even talking about? Yeah, I don’t have knockout power. That’s never been my game. I win with this (points to his brain). I’m smarter than a lot of these guys out there. Like I said, I’m an OG of the game. Give me my f*cking title shot. I’ll put on a good show for the fans. I’ve been working on my striking, as people saw in the Brian Ortega fight. Give me my f*cking shot. I’ve earned this. I’ve been around for a long time.”
Sterling has been linked to a bout with Youssef Zalal, but is yet to be booked for a fight. At this point, Sterling is willing to fight anyone but questions the matchmaking from the UFC.
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“I don’t know what else I’ve got to do,” Sterling said. “If you want to give me Yair Rodriguez, I’ll fight him. If you want to give me Jean Silva, I’ll fight him. If you want to give me Youssef Zalal, I’ll fight him. I’ve never turned down anybody. These guys have asked me for opponents, who I want to fight, and then they give me somebody the complete opposite because they want to see me lose.
“That’s my perspective. It might be different for them, but my perspective is, you ask me who I want to fight, I give you a name, stylistic good matchup for myself, you give me somebody else. What does that tell me? Oh, maybe I’m not the guy for the spot, but I keep proving them wrong. Give me a f*cking title shot, and I’m going to prove them wrong again.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Aljamain Sterling goes on fiery rant: UFC ‘wants to see me lose’
