Just a few days ago Aljamain Sterling claimed he was contemplating whether to keep going with his fight career after a unanimous decision loss to Movsar Evloev at UFC 310, but it seems he’s already made up his mind and is now casting his mind to who he might fight next.
It certainly seemed premature for the 35-year-old to be considering retirement given that he’s still ranked No.9 in the featherweight division, and as a former bantamweight champion who only last year was on a nine-fight winning streak, there’s still plenty of big fights left for him in the sport.
“I would like to make a March return,” Sterling told “Home of Fight.” “If I do get to get a fight for March, April the latest, I would like to fight Arnold Allen or fight Brian Ortega. I don’t think that loss to Movsar should push me down the rankings. I almost felt like it should be treated as a ‘W.’
“It’s weird to say it like that because it might come off as funny to people to hear me say that, but honestly, that’s just how I feel. I feel that I shouldn’t have to go fight down the rankings after being 1-1 and losing to a guy that people are saying is going to be the next champion, in a fight that a lot of people still think I won.”
Those would both be big fights, and from his perspective they would make sense given that Allen is ranked No.7 and Ortega is No.6.
“I think a March return would be nice,” Sterling said. “I want to stay busy, especially while I can. This is like the first time I’ve actually been the majority of the post fight healthy, so I want to take advantage of that.”
