Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling says he will likely be changing weight classes.
Before Sterling headlined UFC 292 in Boston in August, he talked about moving up to featherweight with a win to chase champ-champ status. However, Sterling ended up losing by second-round knockout, and since then, he hasn’t been sure of his next move.
Aljamain Sterling has been adamant he wants to rematch Sean O’Malley, but now, he says he likely will be moving up to featherweight.
Aljamain Sterling likely to move up to 145lbs
“I forgot to mention the nutrition part of things, checking my weight, lean body mass, versus fat masses in my entire body. I actually check out to be an average-sized featherweight which is crazy to me,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Every time I look at these featherweights, I feel like they are so much bigger than me. It’s very interesting to see the numbers and see the data and how my strength racks up, my endurance, and all that stuff. It’s very obvious that a lot of my training sessions at 135, although I did make the weight and did compete, and win a lot, I’ve been doing this at a big deficit. After doing everything, it gave me a lot more comfort with where I’m at and making the move to 145.
“But, I got one other thing I want to do this week. As of right now, my mindset is definitely leaning towards 145 for featherweight. But, I want to do one more round of testing on my own because psychologically I need to be the biggest guy, because that’s what I did at bantamweight, what I’ve done as a wrestler. Psychologically, I need to make sure I’m going to be okay when I step in there that I feel comfortable, confident that I can win and compete with those guys in that weight class,” Sterling continued.
During the live stream, Aljamain Sterling also revealed he was offered a fight against Calvin Kattar for his 145lbs debut in the UFC.
Sterling is 23-4 as a pro and defended his bantamweight title three times.
