The best and worst from UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs Velasquez

#2 Worst: Sterling’s coming out party belonged on the main card

Aljamain Sterling's big win over Jimmie Rivera belonged on the main card of the show

Okay, so maybe I’m being petty here. After all, the preliminary fights on last night’s card – after the first three, anyway – aired on the main ESPN network, just the same as the main card did.

But how many fans would’ve simply skipped the prelims and decided to check out the main card only? Probably quite a few – which means they would’ve missed a fight between two top-5 calibre Bantamweights.

Quite why the UFC left Aljamain Sterling vs. Jimmie Rivera on the prelims, when fights with much lower title implications like Cynthia Calvillo vs. Cortney Casey and Myles Jury vs. Andre Fili made the main card, is baffling really. It’s not like either man is known for having dull fights, and Sterling is one of the more colourful personalities in the division, too.

In the end the fight was a high-level, competitive one that saw Sterling win a clear decision – picking up probably the biggest win of his UFC career. Marlon Moraes clearly deserves the next title shot, but if he were unavailable for some reason, the promotion could easily give Sterling the shot, and it wouldn’t be too outlandish.

Anyone that close to a title shot should be on a UFC main card, plain and simple. Hopefully not too many missed his fight last night, as it could be viewed as a coming out party for ‘The Funk Master’. The fact that the UFC made it a preliminary fight was criminal.