"There's a very good chance I can make this look fu****g easy" - Aljamain Sterling oozes confidence as his title fight with Petr Yan draws near

Aljamain Sterling is looking forward to fighting Petr Yan again at UFC 273 on April 9th. The two initially fought back in March 2021 at UFC 259 in a fight that ended via disqualification after Yan hit Sterling with an illegal knee. The move cost Yan the fight plus his bantamweight belt, and the two have been feuding online endlessly ever since.

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, a confident Sterling sounded excited to get back into the cage and test his skills. He said:

"All the talking's almost done and I just can't wait to see who's who. And again, if he proves that when I'm at my best that he is the better man, I will gracefully say that and have no problem in doing that because that's just who I am. At the end of the day I'm confident because of the work that I put in. I do think I'm going to win 100%, and I do think there's a very good chance I could make this look f**king easy. There's is a very good chance I could make this look f**king easy. And I'm excited about that. That gets my blood going."

A rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan was originally scheduled for October 2021 but ended up being canceled due to complications Sterling was having after neck surgery. The UFC went ahead and put "No Mercy" against Cory Sandhagen for an interim bantamweight title which Yan won. Now UFC 273 will see the bantamweight titles unified and the biggest rivalry at 135 pounds resolved.

Watch the full Yahoo! Sports interview with Aljamain Sterling below:

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Aljamain Sterling is feeling more powerful than ever after successful neck surgery

Following his less than stellar performance against Petr Yan, Sterling underwent neck surgery to fix nerve damage and muscle weakness caused by a disc herniation. While it took longer than initially expected for Sterling to fully recover and fight again, he's feeling better than ever.

He told Yahoo! Sports:

"Now I'm firing on all cylinders. I haven't looked this ripped in so long and I feel so much stronger in terms of my training output, what I've been able to do. Not having to take days off because of a kink in my neck, or can't wrestle or train for a week because I'm so tight and the flare ups in my neck. To have all that go away, it's just a blessing. It's night and day and I'm just super excited to be back."

Aljamain Sterling climbed his way to the top of the bantamweight division while suffering from this issue, so it will be interesting to see how much better he is now that he's feeling completely healthy.