“It’s a good stylistic fight,” Aljamain Sterling welcomes Max Holloway’s record-breaking notion in featherweight debut challenge

Aljamain Sterling considers Max Holloway as a welcome option for his 145lbs matchup.

“It’s a good stylistic fight,” Aljamain Sterling welcomes Max Holloway’s record-breaking notion in featherweight debut challenge

Aljamain Sterling wants Max Holloway at featherweight (Source: Twitter/Pinterest)

Aljamain Sterling suffered a skid in his last outing against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in August. The latter thus won the bantamweight title in the bout. Sterling had invoked a chance at a rematch. But O’Malley has chosen Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, to rectify his only career skid. Now, Sterling plans a move to the 145lbs division.

Sterling had teased his aspirations to do so for quite a while now, even before the loss to O’Malley. Unfortunately, his clear pathway to vacating his spot to sparring partner Merab Dvalishvili, and moving on, was stopped by O’Malley. This happened with a second-round TKO. Recently, the fighter has hinted Max Holloway to be next in his sights.

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The upcoming featherweight bout will be Sterling’s second one in his pro-MMA career. He first fought at featherweight in his fourth pro fight, with a win over Evan Chmielski before reverting to 135lbs. For most of his tenure, Max Holloway has been the zenith of the division. Speaking on the matter with The Schmo, Sterling said:

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They think Max is gonna set a record on me so I’m just saying bring it. I think it’s a good stylistic fight.

With Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski being the prominent head of the division since 2019, Holloway has been the next top dog. The 25-7-0 featherweight has lost only three times in his previous 21 outings. Despite the success, Sterling considers this a great match. He also considers his wrestling acumen will play a role.

This is not the first time the fighter has talked about Holloway. With no bantamweight rematch on the horizon, Sterling had tweeted on the same, earlier in November.

Daniel Cormier reinforces the idea of Aljamain Sterling staying at bantamweight

Sterling is ready to make the shift to featherweight, with no stated rematches for him. He has expressed his wishful thinking of facing Max Holloway at 145lbs. Holloway is a prominent name in the division. Contrarily, veteran Daniel Cormier thinks this is a bad move for the fighter.

Daniel Cormier considers Aljamain Sterling having better chance at bantamweight title reshot
Daniel Cormier considers Aljamain Sterling to have a better chance at the bantamweight title reshot (Source: Twitter)

This isn’t the first time Cormier has chimed in against the thought. In October, in a Q&A on his YouTube channel, Sterling had first mentioned Holloway. Tussling with the idea of such a shift he said that defeating Holloway would essentially make him the top contender very fast, very soon.

Cormier had said that Sterling, a guy with range issues, would be an underdog with “deep troubles” against Holloway. Now, speaking to The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani, he has said the same.

Moreover. Cormier thinks that with enough in the win column, Sterling has a better chance at a bantamweight title shot again. Holloway’s last highlight was a knockout of Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 225. His only 3 skids were against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

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