Aljamain Sterling is calling for a title shot following his one-sided win over Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai, but even \u201cFunkmaster\u201d wasn\u2019t optomistic that he\u2019d get it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we still put on a great performance for you guys,\u201d Sterling said during his post-fight interview. \u201cI had to survive, I wasn\u2019t trying to get knocked out in China!\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what he wanted next, \u201cFunkmaster\u201d went big.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve done enough in this game, I\u2019ve been around the block,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve defended my belt the most in bantamweight history, I think I\u2019m tied for most wins in bantamweight history. I came to featherweight, I did my damn thing, I lost to a really tough dude who fought for the belt twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRespect to Volkanovski, he\u2019s the man. I would love an opportunity to fight for the belt again.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the ESPN post-fight show, Sterling admitted he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d receive the next shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if [Volkanovski] fights Lerone [Murphy] next,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was a great fight for him. In terms of his performance, I think Lerone has earned it. But if the UFC wants to throw my hat in there, I\u2019m not going to say no if they give me an opportunity. They\u2019ve done that for many guys in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sterling\u2019s relationship with UFC CEO Dana White has never been the best.<\/a> He\u2019s always done with the UFC has wanted, but with a bit too much grumbling.<\/a> But it\u2019s never too late for them to reward him for all the solids he\u2019s done over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re both two old dogs, I\u2019m 36, Volkanovski\u2019s 36. It\u2019s like let two old uncs get after it,\u201d Sterling said. \u201cLerone, he\u2019s got some time, he\u2019s got some youth, me and [Volkanovski], why not?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aljamain Sterling is calling for a title shot following his one-sided win over Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-92617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}