Aljamain Sterling issues bold prediction for Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes after beefing with latter online: "He is in phenomenal shape"

Aljamain Sterling recently made a strong prediction about the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes matchup. After Ilia Topuria vacated the featherweight title, Volkanovski was booked to face Lopes for the 145-pound championship in the main event of UFC 314 on April 12 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

Sterling, a title hopeful himself, engaged in a heated exchange with Lopes and his manager on X, arguing that his former opponent, the undefeated Movsar Evloev, had a stronger case for the title opportunity.

During a recent video on his YouTube channel (via MMA Junkie), 'Funk Master' emphasized that he isn’t biased but forecasted Volkanovski to be the more dominant fighter against Lopes:

"I think Volkanovski is going to put the beats on Lopes. I would have said that more respectfully had him and his manager not tried to attack me as if I said anything disrespectful to them... I truly do think Volk is going to put the beats on him. I’m going to give them the reason why Volk is going to whoop that a**. Volkanovski is coming with a vengeance. He is in phenomenal shape. What he does great vs. what Diego Lopes does great is not the same."

Sterling stated that 'The Great' is the sharper and more complete fighter compared to Lopes:

"Volk is super well rounded. He’s strong in every single department. Maybe not a submission specialist, but he’s very hip to the grappling game where Diego Lopes is a very good grappler in terms of submission threats, but when it comes to striking, he is an all-or-nothing guy in the first round."

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments below (41:57):

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Aljamain Sterling reflects on his experience sparring with Alexander Volkanovski

Last month, Alexander Volkanovski shared a training video on his YouTube channel, documenting his trip to Phuket, Thailand. The footage also featured a sparring session where 'The Great' worked with Aljamain Sterling.

In the video, the former UFC bantamweight champion shared his thoughts on training with Volkanovski for the first time:

"This is actually my first time training with Volk. We’ve seen each other in passing a bunch of different times, at the UFC PI, fighting events and things like that. This has been a cool experience to kind of work with one of the other greatest guys of all-time in the featherweight division. So this is really nice."

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments below (10:56):