Aljamain Sterling wants a title eliminator fight with Diego Lopes.
Lopes recently competed in the main event of Noche UFC this past Saturday where he finished Jean Silva in the second round in a chaotic featherweight clash. Lopes bounced back in the win column after suffering a decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski for the vacant 145-pound title at UFC 314 in April.
Following Lopes’ double-bonus earning victory, Sterling called for a matchup with the exciting fighter.
“Winner gets a title shot,” Sterling wrote on Instagram. “Run it.”
Sterling is also coming off of a recent bounce-back victory, as he dominated multi-time past title challenger Brian Ortega over five rounds in the co-main event of UFC Shanghai in August. The former bantamweight champion made the move to featherweight after losing the title to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in August 2023, making room for teammate Merab Dvalishvili to get his chance to become champ — which he did.
“Funk Master” is now 2-1 in the division, including a lopsided decision win over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 in April 2024. Sterling then went on to face the undefeated Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 this past December, losing a competitive unanimous decision.
Lopes is now 6-2 in the UFC, with his other loss coming to Evloev in his shot notice promotional debut.
