Aljamain Sterling would show some love for Jose Aldo, but not much for Petr Yan following UFC Vegas 44.
The UFC Bantamweight Champion attended the fights live from cageside on Saturday. He would end up watching top contenders Rob Font and Jose Aldo collide in the main event. Aldo would put on a clinic in both the striking and the grappling departments. He would get the unanimous decision nod over 5 rounds.
Taking Down Aldo
Sterling would speak highly of Aldo’s performance but believes he’d beat the Brazilian. While Aldo is known for his great takedown defense, Sterling still thinks he would be able to take him down. It is his specialty as Sterling is considered by many to be the best grappler in the bantamweight division.
“[I’d take him down] a hundred percent.” Sterling said on the UFC Vegas 44 post-fight show. “I think the main thing that he does well is when you press them against the cage, he has a tendency to put like the side of his foot inside that crease line of the octagon, which keeps him pretty much buried in there. It’s super hard to pull a guy off the cage when his feet are locked into the cage in between, it’s almost like a wedge you’re stuck in there. So you’re fighting against gravity. You’re fighting against their strength and everything to try to pull them up, pull them off the cage. So that’s a lot of work, a lot of energy expenditure.”
Sterling Wants To Fight Aldo In The Future
Sterling has gotten a lot of hate for his performance against Petr Yan last March at UFC 259. It was just an ‘off-night’ according to ‘The Funkmaster’. Sterling thinks he has shown much more in his past fights and thinks he’d show out against a legend like Aldo in the future.
“My last fight, people can say whatever they want. Look at any of my other past performances. I’ve never looked at tired before. For me to not eat what I’ve eaten on the day of the fight and fatigue that fast in a fight… I’m super confident that when I’m on, I can take anybody down in the world. I’ve rolled with bigger guys, smaller guys. I truly do believe my grappling is second to none. I can’t wait to just prove it.
“This is Jose Aldo’s night and just want to talk about him and his performance. He looked great. I just can’t wait to get the opportunity to compete against the legend like that.”
‘The King of Rio’ wasn’t the only name the champ was asked about on the post-fight show.
Petr Yan Blocked Aljamain Sterling On Social Media
Interim champ and his heated rival Petr Yan would be brought up as well. In previewing his next fight against Yan, Sterling revealed that ‘No Mercy’ had blocked him on social media. The two have beefing digitally, basically from the dawn of time. It looks like the two fighters won’t be beefing on social media as much anymore because of the block.
Nevertheless, Sterling looks to settle some business, come 2022.
“We both really want to just shut the other person up.” Sterling continued. “I think that’s what it comes down to. I come from a wrestling background, you hear a little chirping, you want to just shut the other guy up, prove it on the mat.
“I can’t wait for the opportunity again, to prove that I just had an ‘off-night’. I think that’s all it comes down to. I respect him, his family, everything that they’ve done, they’ve worked hard to get to where they are. At the end of the day, that’s respectable. This is a hard sport to even get to the top, the pinnacle, to even challenge for a world title. That’s hard to do, so kudos to him getting there and getting the opportunity and same for me.
Unsettled Business
Bad blood will boil down next year, when Yan and Sterling finally meet a second time. The current champ is all for it and looks to shut up Yan once and for all.
“I just can’t wait to figure it out. We got a lot of unsettled business and I can’t wait to just shut that guy up for good.”
