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Getting to the top of the UFC, as current bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling has, takes an insane amount of skill, heart, determination and toughness.
UFC champions should be amongst the most highly respected fighters on the planet. Somehow, current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling seems to be the exception to that rule.
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Quite why Aljamain Sterling doesn’t get the respect he deserves from UFC fans is a bit of a mystery. Sure, he won his title in controversial fashion, but that wasn’t the fault of ‘Funk Master’, it was simply a bad set of circumstances.
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With that in mind, here are five reasons why Aljamain Sterling deserves more respect from UFC fans.
#5. Aljamain Sterling is hardly the first UFC champion to suffer from injury problems
It seems like the main reason that UFC fans are currently disrespecting Aljamain Sterling is due to the persistent injury problems he’s suffered with since winning the UFC bantamweight title.
Sterling famously won his title from Petr Yan at UFC 259 in March. The victory was a controversial one as it came via disqualification after Yan struck him with an illegal knee while he was downed. Since then, Sterling has been on the shelf. He has spent a lengthy time recovering from what sounds like a serious neck injury.
The UFC intended for him to return at UFC 267. However, ‘Funk Master’ was forced out due to lingering issues following his neck surgery. That resulted in the promotion booking an interim title bout between Yan and Cory Sandhagen.
However, simply suffering from an injury issue shouldn’t mean that Aljamain Sterling should be served disrespect from the fans. After all, the 32-year-old is hardly the first UFC champion to have injury problems.
Former champs like Dominick Cruz, Cain Velasquez and Robert Whittaker spent lengthy periods on the shelf with injuries and interim champions were often crowned in their stead. None of them received the same disrespect as Sterling has.
Simply put, just because he’s suffered from a serious injury shouldn’t mean that Aljamain Sterling deserves disrespect. If anything, the fact that he attempted to train through a neck injury should mean he gets more respect from fans, not less.
#4. Aljamain Sterling gave Petr Yan his toughest test inside the octagon
The fact that Aljamain Sterling won the UFC bantamweight title via disqualification seems to grate on some UFC fans. Some have been particularly disrespectful and continue to label him a paper champion.
However, while it’s perhaps fair to claim that Sterling was losing his fight with former champion Petr Yan prior to ‘No Mercy’ landing the illegal blow, it’s not like the fight was a whitewash. In fact, ‘Funk Master’ was probably giving Yan the toughest test he’d ever faced in the octagon, which is hugely impressive and warrants plenty of respect in its own right.
Before his clash with Sterling, Yan was unbeaten in the UFC with a record of 7-0. Despite facing high-level opponents like Jimmie Rivera, Urijah Faber and John Dodson, nobody had really pushed him to his limits. Even the legendary Jose Aldo took a serious beating when he came up against ‘No Mercy’ at UFC 251 last July.
Aljamain Sterling, on the other hand, was able to land a series of kicks and body shots from range that kept Yan guessing. He took the second and arguably the first round in their clash.
Were the two bantamweights to rematch inside the octagon, based on what we saw in the first fight there’d be every chance that Sterling could win cleanly. Given Yan’s prior dominance, the fact that ‘Funk Master’ was able to hang with him should mean he deserves plenty of respect in his own right.
#3. Aljamain Sterling has never backed down from a challenge in the UFC
Somehow, the fact that Aljamain Sterling was forced out of UFC 267 with a neck injury has given cynical UFC fans enough fuel to label the bantamweight champion a ducker who is attempting to run from his challengers.
Even top contender T.J. Dillashaw appears to believe something similar, suggesting that Sterling might retire without defending his title. He said the 32-year-old's withdrawal from UFC 267 was simply a way for him to hold onto the belt for longer.
However, to say such claims are ridiculous would be an understatement. Since arriving in the UFC in 2014, it’s probably fair to say that Aljamain Sterling has never backed down from a challenge.
On two occasions, ‘Funk Master’ accepted fights with late-notice opponents when his original foe was forced out at the last minute. Also, at UFC 214, he agreed to fight Renan Barao at a catchweight of 140 pounds when the former UFC bantamweight champion was unable to make the 135-pound limit.
More to the point, Sterling’s record is filled with fights against tricky opponents such as Pedro Munhoz, Cody Stamann and Jimmie Rivera. They're the kind of foes that many fighters would avoid due to their high skill and low name value.
Essentially, Aljamain Sterling is the kind of fighter who should be respected for facing all comers, instead of receiving disrespect for withdrawing from one fight due to a serious injury.
#2. Aljamain Sterling completely dusted Cory Sandhagen when they faced off
Aljamain Sterling’s UFC record is excellent (more on that later) but it’s probably fair to say that he picked up his biggest win at UFC 250 last June. At that pay-per-view, he beat Cory Sandhagen.
The win was enough for the UFC to grant him a shot at the UFC bantamweight title. In the context of the bigger picture, it’s a win that should mean Sterling gets far more respect from UFC fans.
That’s because right now, it’s arguable that Sandhagen is perhaps the best bantamweight in the UFC, not named Aljamain Sterling. A glance at the record of ‘The Sandman’ tells its own story.
Sandhagen has been in the UFC since 2018. In that time, he’s put together an outstanding record of 7-2. One loss came at the hands of Sterling and the other, a split decision defeat to T.J. Dillashaw, was hugely controversial and many believe should go down as a win.
It’s not like Sandhagen has been smacking scrubs around, either. He holds knockout wins over Frankie Edgar and Marlon Moraes. He also beat Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.
When he faced Aljamain Sterling, though, ‘The Sandman’ was completely outclassed and was forced to tap out in just over a minute.
At the highest level in the UFC, it’s rare to see such domination and yet Sterling made Sandhagen look like he didn’t even belong in the octagon with him. It’s a win that’s somehow become overlooked, but should earn ‘Funk Master’ far more respect than he gets from UFC fans.
#1. Aljamain Sterling’s record is second-to-none in the UFC bantamweight division
The main reason that Aljamain Sterling deserves more respect than he gets from UFC fans is that his record is basically second-to-none in the bantamweight division. 'Funk Master’ has been a part of the UFC roster for over seven years now. In that time, he’s never faced off with anything but a tough opponent inside the octagon.
He made his UFC debut on late notice and defeated Cody Gibson. Since then, he’s put together an overall record of 12-3. However, it’s worth noting that of his losses, only his defeat to Marlon Moraes was definitive. Moraes knocked Sterling out in the first round, whereas his losses to Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao both came via split decisions and the Assuncao loss in particular was contentious.
Sterling’s wins also stand out as being remarkably strong. Not only is he the only man to finish Cory Sandhagen in the UFC, but he also handed Cody Stamann his first loss in the octagon and came out on top against Jimmie Rivera and Pedro Munhoz too.
Even in his early UFC days, he was able to defeat two top ranked fighters in Takeya Mizugaki and Johnny Eduardo to break into the promotion’s rankings less than two years after his debut.
Essentially, few bantamweights in the UFC can boast as impressive a record as Aljamain Sterling. ‘Funk Master’ is definitely a deserving champion, and deserves far more respect for his achievements from UFC fans.
