Aljamain Sterling: Yair Rodriguez getting UFC featherweight title shot is 'crazy work'

USA Today

06-06-2025

Aljamain Sterling: Yair Rodriguez getting UFC featherweight title shot is 'crazy work'
Aljamain Sterling is baffled by Yair Rodriguez being the potential next UFC title challenger.
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (27-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) confirmed the rumors that Rodriguez (19-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is in discussion to be the first title defense of his second reign, but nothing is official yet.
Sterling (24-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC), who's coming off a unanimous decision loss to Movsar Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) at UFC 310, thinks his past opponent was snubbed out of a title shot. Rodriguez snapped a two-fight losing skid by defeating former Bellator champion Patricio Freire at UFC 314. One of his two losses came in a title fight against Volkanovski at UFC 290.
"If they give it to Yair, all respect to Yair, but that's crazy work," Sterling told Home of Fight. "But he's popular. ...I'm not the UFC, 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 the 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.
"It was lackluster to say the least, and I was able to redeem myself. It's just one of those things. You never know what the UFC is thinking, and what they think makes the most sense for their bottom line, and I get that. You get into this sport thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to work hard and if I win X, Y, and Z, then I'm going to get this opportunity,' and not everyone gets that fair shake so, it is what it is. Once you understand that, you can make peace with it. For '45, I thought it should have been Movsar."
As for what's next for Sterling, the former UFC bantamweight champion thinks he was in the wrong end of the decision against Evloev. He hopes his next fight is a matchup which allows him to continue his ascent up the featherweight ladder.
"I was hoping that I could maybe fight a Diego (Lopes) or Brian Ortega," Sterling continued. "Much love and respect to Brian. He's cool, but we're not like me and Merab (Dvalishvili), we're not training together. So, it's just one of those things where I'm up at the weight class.
"Even Arnold Allen, even called out Lerone Murphy. I just want to fight someone where the fight means something. I won the belt, I'm no longer this up-and-comer unknown name so, I want to fight guys who actually mean something for my career. Not just helping a young fighter build their career."