Aljamain Sterling cruised to victory in lopsided fashion in his fight against Brian Ortega, but it turns out disaster nearly struck late in the five-round co-main event.
Following his unanimous decision win where he swept every judges’ scorecard, Sterling revealed that he actually suffered a significant elbow injury that had him panicking about giving up a potential comeback to Ortega. While he persevered and came through with the win, Sterling admits he got a little scared about what might happen following that sequence but thankfully he was able to keep his wits about him before turning to his grappling to maintain his control in the fight.
“That last elbow I landed in round four, I really couldn’t even keep my arm up to defend myself,” Sterling revealed during the UFC Shanghai post-fight show. “When he came after me, I was like this is like a living nightmare right now.
“Because I can’t even do anything other than circle, and hopefully he makes a mistake, which he did and allowed me to take his back and get him down.”
While Sterling acknowledged he was dealing with some issues before his fight on Saturday, the elbow injury definitely happened during that fourth round.
“This for sure happened in the fight,” Sterling said about his elbow injury. “It showed right away in that fifth round.”
Despite the elbow problems plaguing him, Sterling pitched a shutout while displaying some strong striking skills throughout the fight.
The matchup, which was originally scheduled at featherweight, ended up as a catchweight bout after Ortega struggled getting down to 146-pounds for the non-title fight. That led to the fight taking place at 153 pounds, but Sterling didn’t allow Ortega’s weight cutting issues give him any false confidence heading into the fight.
“He’s been in that position before where he was deathly on the scale and then he comes out and has a great performance,” Sterling said. “‘The Korean Zombie’ [Chang Sung Jung] was one of those performances where he looked like a masterclass boxer and then he knocked him out with the back elbow at the end, right? I knew he was going to be game.
“I knew there was only one reason he wanted it to be five rounds and that was to get me in the later rounds because I’ve shown in the past to fade a little bit. But I was also cutting a tremendous amount of weight getting down to [135 pounds]. I still slowed down a bit but I had some stuff coming into this and thankfully, god was on my side and I was able to get the job done despite all the circumstances coming into this fight.”
While he did show off his wrestling and grappling at moments, Sterling largely won the fight on the feet, which was his way of serving yet another reminder that he’s got plenty of weapons in his arsenal.
“I was happy I got to show off my striking,” Sterling said. “Guys think I can’t box, they think I can’t kick. They think my striking is complete [crap]. I fight unorthodox because I like to take as little damage as possible. These guys come into the fights, they want to actually get into a back and forth fight.
“I’m here to win. I’m here to dominate. I’m here to make it look easy and if that makes you think I can’t strike, then step in there with me and see what happens.”
Following his win, Sterling called for a title fight opportunity against reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
As unlikely as it seems that wish is granted, especially with Sterling just getting back on track following a loss to Movsar Evloev in his previous outing, the New York native isn’t losing hope.
In fact, Sterling pitched himself as a perfect alternative to Lerone Murphy, who seems like the most likely candidate to get the next shot at Volkanovski’s belt after he delivered a devastating knockout to finish Aaron Pico at UFC 319.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if [Volkanovski] fights Lerone next,” Sterling said. “That was a great fight for him. In terms of his performance, I think Lerone has earned it, but if the UFC wants to throw my hat in there, I’m not going to say no if they give me an opportunity. They’ve done that for many guys in the past.
“But with that said, we’re both two old dogs, I’m 36, Volkanovski’s 36. It’s like let two old unc’s get after it. Lerone, he’s got some time, he’s got some youth, me and [Volkanovski], why not?”
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