UFC featherweight Aljamain Sterling considered retirement had he suffered a loss to Calvin Kattar at UFC 300.
“Fight day in the back room is when I really started to second guess a lot of…everything else is just like having doubt of like, man if this doesn’t go well I don’t know where I go from here,” Sterling said on The MMA Hour.
“Do I continue to keep fighting or do I just call it quits kind of thing.”
Sterling (24-4) did walk away with a decision victory over Kattar, but he says his journey at 145 is about a lot more than getting paid.
“At the end of the day I’m not just trying to just collect the check. There’s so many guys that stick around just to do that. I respect them, but I’m here to be number one,” he said.
“Im not here just to be second fiddle. If it’s just like I’m going to be in the pack…I made enough money, I think I’ve done enough with my career where I’m like alright it’s probably time to find a new job.”
A loss would have set Sterling on a two-fight losing streak, but it depended on the manner that he lost.
“It depends on how it would have happened. I think if I had got my ass completely kicked by Calvin Kattar I was probably done,” Sterling said.
“No one knew about that. I didn’t share those sentiments with anybody.”
End of the day for Sterling it’s about being a champion.
“That’s kind of the way I look at things. If you’re not first you’re kind of last.”
Since he won the fight Sterling should be up for another big fight at 145 that gets him closer to the belt. A scrap with “T-City” seems to suit him just fine.
“I would actually rather the (Brian) Ortega fight. I’m gunning for the belt. If there’s a fight for me, you’re going to give me the option to pick, I’m going to pick the highest ranked guy,” he said
“If I could beat the highest ranked guy I think it just removes all doubt altogether.”
