Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has finally spoken on what he believes will be next for him following his title loss against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in Boston.
“I think there’s only one name that comes to mind, and that’s Aljamain Sterling in the rematch,” Sterling said with a laugh on his podcast The Weekly Scraps.
“All jokes aside though, I think if I don’t get the immediate rematch, if they were to offer me the immediate rematch for like December I’d have to respectfully decline.”
The thought of a somewhat quick turnaround four months from now, given that Sterling has some personal things going on in that time, would be too much at the moment for the former champion.
“If they were to do it early next year (2024) January, February, I would accept it in a heartbeat,” he said.
For quite some time now Sterling has said that he would be moving up to the featherweight division after the O’Malley fight at UFC 292. A win would have likely guaranteed that move, but the loss leaves the door open for remaining at bantamweight for now. That being said Sterling still advocates for his longtime teammate, and friend, Merab Dvalishvili to fight for O’Malley for the belt.
“If I’m not going to get the rematch the next guy in line has to be Merab Dvalishvili. Has to be. #1 contender, I don’t think any other matchup makes more sense than him, clearly the other guys are on the sideline,” said Sterling.
“I think that is the most logical matchup. I think it would be a great opportunity for Merab to get a title shot and to become the first Georgian champion. I think that’d be huge for him and his country.”
Should that be the move, Dvalishvili fighting for the title, where would that leave Sterling?
“Of course that would put me in limbo. I know people are going to be like ‘well where does that leave you, Aljo?’. I don’t know. Maybe I stick around at 35 and take like a fight or two, and then maybe I explore 45?,” the former champion said.
“Or maybe I just go right to 45. It just really depends. Let’s just see how things shape up before we just kind of start jumping to conclusions and getting all crazy with all this other stuff.”
Watch the full episode of The Weekly Scraps with Aljamain Sterling below.
