“Maybe Jan will come to our gym to tighten up the fight.” Aljamain Sterling – about fights with Peter Yan and Oliveira’s rematch with Makhachev

On March 6, 2021, Sterling fought Petr Yan for the UFC bantamweight (61.2 kg) belt. Ian had the belt, Sterling lost devastatingly in the second and third rounds, lost in the fourth, but Ian decided to knee him to the head just as Sterling was on the ground. As a result, the two held each other: Ian, annoyed over the disqualification, Sterling, to show how hurt he was. Now, this episode is interesting to watch because it transformed the careers of both. Yan went on to lose three out of four fights and was dropped from title contention. Sterling won three of three, defended the belt beating Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw, and was No. 6 on the UFC’s list of top fighters by any weight class.

At UFC 292, Sterling will defend the belt against Sean O’Malley, who looks like a hero for today’s American youth. O`Malley often changes clothes, hair color and his knockouts are very convenient to watch on social media.

– In the last fight, you beat Henry Cejudo, the Olympic freestyle champion. Could you say his wrestling skills were on a different level or that MMA rules equalize all fighters?

– I think he has a fight on the level of a lot of my previous opponents, but doesn’t stand out much. He has a different style, regular wrestling and MMA wrestling are two different things. For example, one of my strongest aspects is cage fighting. He may not be as good at it, but his level of traditional wrestling has helped him defend against a lot of takedowns in heavy positions. I felt he had fought well. The level of classic wrestling helped him in the fight with me.

– Can you remember what your weight was at the time of the fight?

– My weight was around 70 kilograms (36 hours before the fight, Sterling showed 61.2 kg. – ). Usually I weigh even less – about 69 kilograms. We just fought on Long Island, the fight started late so there was more time to put on some more weight. Many opponents say that I press them with mass and win because of this advantage, although they are often heavier than me in a fight.

– Your trainer, Ray Longo, became the author of the loudest upsets in UFC history: Matt Serra beat Georges St-Pierre with him, and Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva. Now that few people believe in Sean O’Malley, what does Ray tell you about the fight with him?

– The underdog position is good because you are eager to prove something. I think people also wonder about me, but it’s their opinion, which doesn’t matter. What matters is what I do. And I can do a lot. I plan to go there and put on a show. I don’t think Sean will be able to oppose me.

— Sean, with a height of 180 cm, is one of the tallest fighters in your weight class — was it difficult for you to find sparring partners of this height and how fast did you get used to such an advantage with a sparring opponent?

“I fought Cody Gibson, who is 178 centimeters, and other tall ones, so it’s nothing new for me. In camp, he worked a lot with Jiluan Erosa (185 centimeters). Guys who are tall and good beaters are never easy to work in. Also, Eros is much taller and works well on the ground, it’s hard to transfer him to the ground, where he’s also dangerous. But I basically have this style – someone loses courage if he defends against his withdrawal, but I understand that you have also spent energy. You can defend yourself two, three, five times, and in the end I will bring you to such a state that you will not have you don’t have the energy to defend yourself, you will want to rest on the ground. It is in this state that I will bring O’Malley.”

– Can you tell me what you are most unhappy about your part in the second fight with Petr Yan?

– In the fourth round, I thought I was leading 3-0 and took two out of the round with the score at 10:8. In the second round I had four minutes of control, knocked him down, beat him up and made a submission attempt. He didn’t do anything in the rack for a minute. In the third round, I controlled him for three minutes. And in my head, and according to the coaches, I was leading 3-0. On the fourth lap, I jumped up to take the back and he took over. If I wasn’t so sure I was leading 3-0 with two rounds of 10:8, then I would knock him down, control him, and not let him back in the fight. And so again I took the risk and made a mistake. Live and learn.

– You said you can go up in weight and out of the category up to 61.2 kg in the weight category up to 65.8 kg. Does that mean your third fight with Petr Yan might not happen?

“Let’s not rush into the trilogy with Yang. Maybe he’ll even come see us at Serra-Longo (a gym in New York where Sterling trains. – “”) to stop the fight.

– When Sean O’Malley challenged you to fight after UFC 288, he came out in a red leather jacket, took it off himself, and your friend Merab Dvalishvili put it on. Did Merab give this jacket to Sean after he left the octagon?

Merab is wearing this jacket right now. Joke. Of course, it was unexpected that Sean walked into the octagon. But we got what we wanted. We were given a fight, in a few days we will fight.

What do you think Charles Oliveira should do to beat Islam Makhachev in a rematch?

Charles must believe in his victory. In the last fight, it seemed like he believed everything that was said about Islam. When Makhachev knocked him down, Charles tried to make a few submission attempts, but found it didn’t work, and then he was blown away. Islam was more patient. In a rematch, Oliveira should be patient. He will be helped by Makhachev’s fight with Volkanovski, where Alex also had a more patient approach. Oliveira is superior to Volkanovski in terms of height and jiu-jitsu skills from below, so he should be more confident. Moreover, he looked cool in the duel with Dariush and easily passed him. As far as I know, Makhachev was driving heavyweights before the fight with Volkanovski and it is not a fact that he was at his peak. I hope both will show the maximum now.

Live broadcasts of the Mixed Martial Arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.