Brian Ortega or Movsar Evloev? Ex-UFC champ Aljamain Sterling explains his choice for next fight after dominant debut at 145 pounds

Aljamain Sterling has options at featherweight and he recently spoke about potential next opponents in Brian Ortega and Movsar Evloev.

As of this writing, Ortega is the number three-ranked UFC featherweight and has fought multiple times for the UFC belt in that weight category. Conversely, Evloev is the number five ranked contender at 145 pounds in the UFC.

Sterling shared a clip from a recent video on his YouTube channel and posted the footage to his X account @funkmasterMMA.

Within the discussion around who the former UFC bantamweight champion wants to next be locked inside the cage with in his new weight division, Sterling said:

"Brian Ortega versus Movsar Evloev in terms of who I would like to fight next. If you're going to ask me which fight do I want, give me Brian Ortega. He's the highest ranked guy not named Max Holloway and not named Alexander Volkanovski. I beat him, I think it puts me automatically in a position where I get to fight for a title."

Check out the clip of Aljamain Sterling discussing Ortega and Evloev below:

---

Aljamain Sterling, Brian Ortega, and Movsar Evloev's last fights at 145 pounds

The 34-year-old Aljamain Sterling was looking to rebound from losing his UFC bantamweight belt and moved up to a higher weight category on one of the biggest shows in company history. He tested skills with Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 on April 13 with the former having one of the more dominant performances on the entire card.

Sterling made his UFC debut in the new weight category and garnered a unanimous decision win over Kattar after comprehensively out-grappling one of the more consistent contenders at 145 pounds over the last few years.

Kattar is now the number nine ranked featherweight after dropping one spot following this fight.

The United States native jumped up to the spot previously occupied by Kattar and 'Funk Master' is now the number eight ranked featherweight in the UFC.

Brian Ortega last stepped into the cage and avenged a prior loss against Yair Rodriguez. 'T-City' notched a third-round arm-triangle choke over the number four ranked featherweight in the company Rodriguez in their UFC Fight Night co-main event in February.

Movsar Evloev's last UFC bout saw him earn a unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen at UFC 297 in January. Allen is currently slotted in the number six spot in the UFC featherweight ranks, while Evloev is placed at number five.