Aljamain Sterling wants to fight Diego Lopes next, with the winner getting a shot at the UFC featherweight championship.
Sterling (25-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) was impressed by Lopes’ (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) second-round TKO victory over Jean Silva on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 259, and after scoring a big win of his own against Brian Ortega in August, he thinks a matchup between them is logical to determine a legitimate title contender.
Sterling, a former UFC bantamweight champion, is 2-1 since he moved up to 145 pounds with wins over Ortega and Calvin Kattar and a competitive loss to unbeaten Movsar Evloev.
Lopes rebounded from a failed bid at the title against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314 in April with a memorable finish of Silva at Noche UFC. The Brazilian said he wants another crack at gold following the win, but admitted he might need one more fight.
Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC), meanwhile, said he is not clear on who will challenge for his belt next. He named four potential contenders, and his list included Sterling and Lopes, as well as Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) and Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC).
Sterling also wrote on Instagram that he is determined to capture the title and is ready to go through Lopes to prove his worth.
“They said I have no striking, I shut them up. They said this guy and that guy will ‘spark’ me, I shut them up,” Sterling wrote. “I’ve always been the underdog and I continue to show up. I didn’t go 12-0 and set the bantamweight record for wins and title defenses because I got hand outs.”
