Aljamain Sterling can see the light at the end of the bantamweight tunnel. Ahead of his UFC bantamweight championship against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 on Saturday, Sterling shared a rough roadmap to his moving up to featherweight.
Sterling has repeatedly expressed how hard the 135-pound weight cut is on his body. Couple that with his close friend Merab Dvalishvili knocking on the door of a title shot and the switch to featherweight seems inevitable. Sterling recently suggested that defenses against Cejudo and Sean O'Malley could wrap the bantamweight chapter of his career.
"Very likely that's the path, but I'm just going to see how this fight goes, how the weight cut goes," Sterling told MMA Fighting. "There could be a chance -- and I don't want to put this in the air because people say stupid things like, 'Oh, that's the wrong mindset to have,' and I'm like, 'Really, because you've done it so many times? Please explain to me what your mindset has been in your fights beforehand or afterward.' At the end of the day, depending on how this goes and the difficulty, I think I've done a better job so far of managing my weight. This could maybe even be the last one.
"Making 135 is not easy," Sterling said. "I do it. It pays the bills. It's my job. We'll see what happens. It's not easy. I'm getting older, 33 years old, cut down from about 168 [pounds], sometimes I'm '65 to '68, sometimes '70 cutting down. When I'm not training, that's what I walk around at, that's my natural state and I'm not fat or out-of-shape looking for a fighter profile. But to cut down, I lose a lot to get down to this weight, and I feel like my body, it's become more difficult to make the weight class."
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Dvalishvili overtook O'Malley for the No. 1 spot in the UFC's official bantamweight rankings. Numerically, the only thing standing between Sterling and Dvalishvili is their unwavering friendship. Sterling's determination to switch divisions is partially fueled by his desire to see Dvalishvili win a world title.
"I'm just taking it day by day, fight by fight, and then we can make a decision -- and I would love to see my guy Merab get a crack at the title."
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