After being told his stand-up ‘sucks’ Aljamain Sterling says he’s ‘falling in love’ with striking

Aljamain Sterling (14-2) climbed up to 8th place in the UFC bantamweight rankings after defeating former champion Renan Barao at UFC 214 in July. Now, after a little uncertainty, Sterling looks to improve his position by beating 7th ranked Marlon Moraes at UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Ortega.

Originally Sterling was due to face Rani Yahya in Fresno, CA. However, an injury took Yahya out of the bout. His fight falling apart coincided with Dominick Cruz pulling out of a fight with Jimmie Rivera. Which all meant that there were a slew of bantamweight names popping up as possible replacements for either Sterling or Rivera.

During this hubbub, Sterling began to worry that he may not get any opponent to meet him on January 9th. “I honestly thought there was a good chance that the fight would just be scrapped,” Sterling told Bloody Elbow. “It didn’t seem like there were many people willing to step up and take the fight, so I was kind of losing a little bit of hope in that regards.”

However, Marlon Moraes did step up, just days after defeating John Dodson at UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Pettis. The development was a surprising one for Sterling. “I didn’t think he would take the fight because he just fought,” he said. “I thought the Rivera fight was the one he wanted because he needed more time to heal up in between the two fights; although he didn’t really take too much damage in that Dodson fight.”

Sterling was also surprised the fight got made since he and Moraes’ coaching teams are so close; though the two men have never trained with each other. Sterling spends most his time with Long Island’s Serra-Longo camp and Moraes is a student of Mark Henry in nearby New Jersey.

Sterling revealed that UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby checked in with both camps to make sure everyone was fine with Sterling vs. Moraes being booked. Sterling said he appreciated this and the fact that Shelby never made him feel as if Moraes had asked for the fight or was challenging him directly.

“I didn’t think this was going to be a fight that we were going to have to take this soon,” remarked Sterling. “But I knew eventually our paths would cross. But we’ve never trained together, so I think that’s the main reason why we’ve both been ok with it and are willing to punch each other.”

Though they’ve never trained together, Sterling still has a pretty good idea of how Moraes fights, thanks – in part – to the fact he was able to watch his opponent perform just a month ago.

“Last performance was ok,” said Sterling of Moraes’ recent outing. “He did pretty much the same thing he always does. It’s the same Marlon Moraes. A lot of leg kicks. He throws that switch kick to the body a lot. A lot of movement to his left and, if he switches to south paw, he fires off that rear leg kick to the liver or the head.”

After assessing Moraes’ skills, Sterling believes he knows exactly what it will take to beat the Brazilian on Saturday night. “I need to take him out of his game and make him uncomfortable,” he said. “I’ve got to push the pace. I’ve got to be tougher. I’ve got to be meaner. I’ve got to throw the harder shots and I’ve got to be faster than he is.

“This is going to come down to whoever is going to be willing to go the distance and go to that dark place before the other guy. And I think I’m willing to go through those depths to get my shot at the title. I think this is my chance. My moment to seize and I think this is going to be my opportunity to really solidify myself as a true number one contender.”

The Moraes’ fight is Sterling’s fourth of 2017, having already bested both Renan Barao and Augusto Mendes via unanimous decision. Before that he suffered a split decision loss to #3 ranked Raphael Assuncao. That loss came off the back of another split decision loss, to Bryan Caraway in mid 2016.

“It’s been amazing,” said Sterling of being able to compete so many times this year. “Last year was rough. I fought one time. It was the loss to Caraway, who hasn’t fought since. I guess I kind of retired him… I retired him by him getting a split decision win. I don’t know, I must have tortured him pretty bad in that first round for him to still haven’t fought anybody yet.”

This year Sterling said he has been able to get into a ‘rhythm’ and has improved tremendously by being able to get back in the cage so soon after either a loss or a win. “Dominick Cruz said, ‘Ring rust doesn’t exist.’ But, to an extant, it does. If you want to have a flow and have a rhythm, you need to fight regularly. Sometimes it can be a whole year until you can get back in there and when you do it’s just a real shell shock in my opinion.”

According to Sterling, having a fight ever few months in 2017 has meant he’s learned a lot about himself as a fighter. The biggest takeaway has probably been a newfound belief in something he said he’s long been criticized for.

“[This year] I learned I can compete with the best strikers in the world. That I have the capability to strike with anybody. I learned that in the Assuncao fight. I learned that I’m a lot better than I gave myself credit for in the stand-up. People always said, ‘Oh his stand-up sucks,’ but I was looking at it like, if you can’t force me to stand up – where that’s not my strongest suit and it’s not where I’m most comfortable – that’s your problem. But now I’ve been falling in love a lot more with stand-up and I’ve just been striking a lot more. It’s fun. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be with those little gloves.”

Sterling stated that he will show his striking progression against Moraes in Fresno and that, in doing so, he will prove that he can compete in all dimensions of MMA with any fighter in the division. Because of this he thinks he could be setting himself up for a very interesting, and profitable, 2018.

“I am in the top of this division. I just need to go out there and prove it one more time and I think then the world will realize they have something here in me. They’ll see I’m another face that can actually contend and fight for the belt.”

Marlon Moraes vs. Aljamain Sterling could have a big impact on the 135lb title picture, as a bout between top contenders. The fight goes down on the main card of UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Ortega. That portion of the card begins at 10pm ET, live on FOX Sports 1.