After months of Aljamain Sterling publicly voicing his frustrations over not being booked for bis next fight, and after demanding his return to the Octagon be a featherweight title shot, the UFC has finally booked him for a fight, however it’s not the title shot he was looking for…instead the former bantamweight champ will be facing the number 7 ranked contender Youssef Halal at UFC Vegas 116 on April 25.
Sterling, who has not competed since his unanimous decision win over Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai last August, claimed the UFC was deliberately keeping him inactive to “waste his youth”, but he is now set to prove he is deserving of a future title shot if he can defeat Halal, who’s riding an eight-fight win streak, with five consecutive victories inside the Octagon during his second stint with the promotion, a run that includes four finishes.
At 36, Sterling is operating with urgency. He has gone 2-1 after moving up from bantamweight, with wins over Calvin Kattar and Ortega bookending a disputed decision loss to Movsar Evloev, and has positioned himself as a legitimate title contender in the division.