With a potential title shot seemingly just one win away, Aljamain Sterling isn't in any rush to change his current approach.
Fighting Pedro Munhoz at UFC 238, Sterling (17-3) enters in the midst of an impressive three fight win streak but yet still finds himself on the prelims. In an interview with MMA Junkie Radio, Sterling considered the reasoning behind that decision. “I don’t want to say I was bitter about it – I’m kind of used to it at this point. I don’t know if it’s like my style of wrestling that they don’t like, even though you’ve got a champ that’s done the same thing in Kamaru Usman. You’ve got Colby Covington that goes out and does the same, exact thing."
“I guess what they want to see is me get my face busted up and get all battered and bleeding – give the ‘just bleed’ fans what they want. I’m not really willing to oblige to that, so I’m going to keep doing my thing, stay pretty out there, stay smooth, stay hard to hit and just keep whooping ass.”
It's hard to argue with Sterling's approach, winning nine of his twelve UFC outings and earning 3rd position in the promotion's Bantamweight rankings. However, he isn't just speculating, explaining that an old manager had passed that very message on from a UFC matchmaker. “I’m just not that type of fighter, and it’s going to take a special type of individual for me to fight that type of way when the chips are down, and I need to go down and bite down on my mouthpiece and just go. Until then, I’m just going to keep doing what I do: Too tough, too smooth, too quick, and I can’t be broken.”
Either way, a win opposite Munhoz will likely make Sterling undeniable to any matchmaker and with that in mind, 'Funk Master' offered a confident predicition. “I’m going to pitch a shutout against Pedro Munhoz. June 8. Tune in.”
Credit to MMA Junkie for their transcript of Sterling's comments.
UFC 238 takes place at the United Center and airs on ESPN+ PPV after prelims on ESPN. The full card can be found below:
UFC Bantamweight Championship
Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes
UFC Women's Flyweight Championship
Valentina Shevchenko (c) vs. Jessica Eye
Tatiana Suarez vs. Nina Ansaroff
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Joanne Calderwood
Tai Tuivasa vs. Blagoy Ivanov
Angela Hill vs. Yan Xiaonan
Ricardo Lamas vs. Calvin Kattar
Jimmie Rivera vs. Petr Yan
Aljamain Sterling vs. Pedro Munhoz
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Alexa Grasso
Eddie Wineland vs. Grigory Popov
