“Be like water”, Aljamain Sterling cites iconic BRUCE LEE style for success in the UFC

Aljamain Sterling's journey to UFC triumph: Inspired by Bruce Lee's fluid philosophy, highlighting his adaptability as the key to becoming a phenomenal athlete in combat sports.

“Be like water”, Aljamain Sterling cites iconic BRUCE LEE style for success in the UFC

Aljamain Sterling credits his fighting style like Bruce Lee (Image via: IMAGO, X)

Aljamain Sterling is one of the greatest bantamweight champions in the UFC. He recently announced his move up to featherweight, where he will face Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. Sterling has a YouTube channel where he hosts his podcast, The Weekly Scraps. On the podcast, Sterling referenced an iconic Bruce Lee quote.

Sterling recently did a 2023 wrap-up show on his YouTube channel. On the show, Sterling described his fight style. This is what he said.

 Just being like water, man. Like water has no form. You've got to be able to be shapeless, be able to just form to whatever is being thrown at you and being able to change, adapt in the moment. I think that's what has helped me get to the top, where a guy can change up, and then I can change up with him and make those adjustments in real time, and that's what makes a phenomenal athlete.
Aljamain Sterling via YT
YouTube video

Aljamain credited his style to like water. Bruce Lee first referenced the ‘be like water’ style. Sterling believed that it was his adaptive style that got him UFC glory. Moreover, he thought that it was the main characteristic that a phenomenal athlete requires.

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Sterling lost the bantamweight title at UFC 292 to Sean O’Malley. He has three consecutive title defenses in the bantamweight division, which is a record. He also has the record for the most wins and longest win streak in the bantamweight division.

Aljamain Sterling finds inspiration after ex-flyweight champions’ success on bantamweight debut

Former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figuerido made his bantamweight debut against Rob Font at UFC Austin. Surprising many, Figuerido won via unanimous decision. The performance of the former flyweight champion impressed the former bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling.

Aljamain Sterling
Aljamain Sterling (Image via: IMAGO)

Moreover, the performance impressed Sterling, who was contemplating a move up to featherweight at the time. This is what Sterling had to say about it on his YouTube show.

I look at Figgy, and that was super impressive how he was able to do that because I thought Rob Font would'nt have a tough time......This is just inspirational from a sense of a guy coming up not knowing what's going to happen against a hard hitter. ........So, very impressed about that. I thought he did a great job, and it made me feel good about my approach coming up and, uh, just trusting in the process, believing in what I'm doing, and hopefully, good things happen.

Sterling already had plans to move up to featherweight before his fight with O’Malley at UFC 292. However, the loss to O’Malley changed the plan. Sterling is one of the very big bantamweights in the UFC, and many find the move to be the right one. However, others like Daniel Cormier felt that the move was not the right one.

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