Aljamain Sterling Says UFC Title Shot For Urijah Faber Wouldn’t Make Sense
Aljamain Sterling isn’t a fan of the idea of a potential UFC bantamweight title shot for Urijah Faber.
“The California Kid” made a successful return to mixed martial arts competition at UFC Sacramento. Faber finished Ricky Simon in just 46 seconds. Faber hadn’t competed since Dec. 2016 as he retired. The UFC Hall of Famer now finds himself as the 14th-ranked UFC bantamweight.
UFC “champ-champ” Henry Cejudo called out Faber following his UFC 238 victory over Marlon Moraes. “The California Kid” replied and said he’d have no problem taking on “Triple C.” One person who takes issue with this is Sterling, who sits at the number two spot on the UFC 135-pound rankings. Sterling told the folks at Submission Radio that Faber is being “irrational” (via MMAFighting.com).
“I didn’t think he’d be that irrational to think that after coming out of retirement after such a long layoff and losing to a guy [Jimmie Rivera] that two guys ahead of him beat,” Sterling said. “I just didn’t think that made a ton of sense. I understand he’s a legend and all that, he just has a huge following and what not, but let’s be real here, the guy’s had four title shots, and right now I don’t think he’s deserving of a fifth.”
Sterling continued:
“I think Dana knows,” Sterling said. “If it was a GSP and coming off of a big win, coming off of retiring from the belt like GSP has done in the past, and coming back and just wanting to fight for the belt immediately, it makes sense. But Urijah’s not that guy. So, it does not make any sense whatsoever. I think he’s a huge draw in Sacramento, I don’t know if everyone is… the thing about MMA fans is, what have you done for me lately? So, for him to be away for so long, come back with such a big win – don’t get me wrong, it was a great performance on his part in terms of the finish, I just think there’s a hierarchy now. He left the queue, and now he re-entered the queue. So, if he wants to come back and challenge for a world title, more power to him, but he’s gonna have to do it on my terms and wait for the sh*t.”
Aljamain Sterling is riding a four-fight winning streak. He hasn’t suffered a loss since Dec. 2017. In his current span, “The Funkmaster” has beaten Pedro Munhoz, Jimmie Rivera, Cody Stamann, and Brett Johns.
