Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is the latest fighter to call into question the interim lightweight and featherweight title match-ups that will headline the first two numbered events on Paramount+ next year.
As a reminder, Dana White’s Thanksgiving announcements revealed that lightweight No.1 contender Arman Tsarukyan has been snubbed in favor of a Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett interim title fight at UFC 234 in January, while a week later 145lb champ Alexander Volkanovski will be rematching Diego Lopes in the UFC 235 headliner rather than face long-time undefeated challengers like Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy.
Needless to say the title hopefuls that have been left empty-handed are unhappy with the situation, and others like ex-135lb champ Sterling have also expressed their disapproval.
“We have a little bit of a debacle happening for these title shots,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Dana announced some big fights, some big fights that were very, very confusing. Fun fights nonetheless, but very, very confusing.
“Let’s start with the obvious. The No. 1 (lightweight) contender, Arman Tsarukyan, he was supposed to fight Islam Makhachev. Got hurt, and understandably pulled out and had some repercussions from the UFC brass, which I understand. But the guy made up for it.
“He weighed in as a backup fighter, which sucks. Yeah, they pay you, but it sucks. You have to weight, not even knowing if you’re going to actually fight,” continued Sterling. “He did that, backup fighter, didn’t get the call, but may wait and show the UFC he’s a company guy, he’s going to do what he can to maker things right. Then he goes on and he fights again, defends his No. 1 spot, beats Dan Hooker and gets a finish.”
“I’m sure if he (Tsarukyan) had the opportunity to fight for the interim title between Paddy Pimblett or Justin Gaethje, he would have done it unless we’re all completely mistaken and he said, ‘No. I only want to fight for the title or that’s it, and that’s against Ilia.
“I think Arman would have taken the fight. That’s just what I would think. It’s not too bad of a turnaround. And on top of that, he just won. Got a finish. Didn’t take a lot of damage. I don’t know how hard the training camp was, but didn’t take a lot of damage. It just sucks to see that,” added the former champion.“
Meanwhile, back down in the featherweight division he currently competes in at featherweight, Sterling feels the situation is just as hard to understand.
Even if I didn’t get it, [Lerone] or Movsar for sure should’ve been the guy [to get the next title shot],” Sterling said on X. “Movsar got passed over by Lopes once, and he gets another opportunity for gold lol. Fair play to Lopes, but you can see why guys start to lose love for the game. Cold world.”
In the end though Sterling is aware that nothing is likely to change by him speaking out, but he thinks the fans could gain more traction with the UFC brass if they demand a fairer system to decide who gets a title shot.
“It’s up to the fans to start complaining about this nonsense. It’s obvious the fighters can’t do anything but fight who they offer us. The UFC caters to YOU fans. Do you guys want merit or popularity in these marquee fights? Speak on it. All of you.”
