UFC title shots are hard to come by for some fighters. Others? Not so much.
Following his title win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314, UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski made it clear he wanted to fight undefeated contender Movsar Evloev in his next title defense.
However, a fight between Volkanovski and Evloev doesn’t look to be happening anytime soon with reports of Evloev fighting Aaron Pico on July 26th.
In a recent interview, Volkanovski confirmed he’s in talks for a rematch ‘nobody wants to see’ against former interim champion Yair Rodriguez.
Another former champion has expressed their disinterest in the potential matchup.
Aljamain Sterling says UFC giving Yair Rodriguez title shot would be ‘crazy work’
Rodriguez is 1-2 in his last three fights and fought for the undisputed title less than two years ago. The Mexican fighter rebounded from back-to-back losses to Volkanovski and Brian Ortega with a dominant decision win over Patricio Pitbull at UFC 314.
Former bantamweight champion and #9 UFC Featherweight contender Aljamain Sterling says his former foe Evloev should’ve been next for Volkanovski, not Rodriguez.
“If they give it to Yair, all respect to Yair, but that’s crazy work,” Sterling told Home of Fight.
“But he’s popular,” Sterling said of Rodriguez.
“I don’t run the company. These guys have all these metrics and things like that they follow to try to promote fights.
“I’m always a guy based on merit. I had to work my ass off. I’ve seen a lot of guys work their ass off and not get their fair shake. I almost didn’t get a fair shake and I had to claw tooth and nail just to get to a title shot.
“Not everyone gets that fair shake. It is what it is.
“For 145, I thought it should have been Movsar,” Sterling said of the next featherweight title shot.
Aljamain Sterling wanted to fight at UFC 316 alongside Merab Dvalishvili
As for what Sterling has been doing in the featherweight division, the former champion says he was offered a fight against Patricio Pitbull earlier this year.
Sterling declined to fight Pitbull on five weeks’ notice in February. At the time, Sterling was in Miami promoting his ‘Funk Harbor’ company.
Afterward, Sterling asked the UFC if he could fight alongside teammate Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey—the same place he defended his title against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 and where he first faced off with Sean O’Malley.
“I asked for this card,” Sterling said of UFC 316.
“I wasn’t getting March, I wasn’t getting April. I sent a text, hey can I get on the New Jersey card with Merab?
“I thought it was going to happen and I don’t know what the f— [happened].
Still ranked in the featherweight top 10, Sterling says he’d like to fight against former title challengers Diego Lopes or Brian Ortega next.