Frustration was piling up on Aljamain Sterling before his recent fight against Augusto Mendes at UFC on FOX 24. He was entering the said contest bearing two straight losses, both by split decision.
Sterling did emerge victorious via unanimous decision, but still questioned the judges’ knowledge about fighting, afterwards. In his recent appearance on the MMA Hour, the Serra-Longo fighter admitted that he had a brief moment of self-doubt after the fight, especially if he was going to lose another decision verdict.
“I thought I won it. I thought, if I lose it, maybe I give up altogether,” Sterling said with a laugh (transcript via MMA Fighting). “If they can’t figure out who won this fight then I just suck at this and I’m going to stick to real estate.”
Like teammate Al Iaquinta, Sterling is also involved in real estate work on the side as a house flipper. He later clarified his real estate comment via Twitter, saying he was not thinking about retiring if the decision went against him, once again. In fact, he is looking to return in July, either for UFC 213 on International Fight Week, or at UFC on FOX 25 two weeks later, which will take place in his hometown of Uniondale, New York.
“I’m interested in fighting in two months, I wanted to get on that [Oklahoma City] card (on June 25), but Sean (Shelby) said it was full,” Sterling said. “Maybe International Fight Week, I’m thinking maybe fight on the first card.”
“I would love to fight in my hometown, I just don’t know what do to with New York (Athletic Commission). They’re weird with some stuff. Even though I’m cleared everywhere else to fight, they’re being weird about everything, so I don’t know. I would love to, but it’s right before my birthday.”
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