Aljamain Sterling Calls Out Rising Star for Sphere, Warns Movsar Evloev

Aljamain Sterling is willing to roll the dice in the UFC Featherweight division.

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The former bantamweight champion made a successful jump to 145lbs with a dominant win over perennial contender Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. Following the victory and a #8 ranking next to his name, Sterling has been looking to fight someone in the featherweight top 5 – most notably Movsar Evloev and Brian Ortega, but so far, to no avail.

Sterling and Evloev have already gone back and forth online regarding a potential fight; however, if it doesn’t end up coming together, “Funkmaster” has another contender on his mind…

“Stay tuned, hopefully we’ll have some fight news for you guys,” Sterling recently said on his YouTube channel. “Thinking about Aljamain Sterling versus Diego Lopes at the Sphere. That has a nice ring to it.”

“Movsar, I don’t know what the hell he’s doing. I gave him a date. He hasn’t accepted yet. Started making all these excuses, so either you wanna fight on my terms or I go fight somebody else. So, Diego Lopes, if you oblige, let’s make it happen at the Sphere. September 14th. Let’s get it.”

Lopes is a hot topic at featherweight after fighting Dan Ige on four hours’ notice after Brian Ortega had withdrawn at the last minute at UFC 303. Lopes ultimately defeated Ige in a 3-round war, and UFC CEO Dana White confirmed he’d be fighting at the Sphere show, Noche UFC, on Sep. 14 if Lopes so wants it.

Ranking-wise, going against #12 contender Lopes would mean fighting down the ladder for Sterling, but beating Lopes is no easy feat, with Evloev having some trouble in his decision win over Lopes at UFC 288, which came on 5 days’ notice. In terms of relevancy, however, a win over Lopes can create a decent amount of momentum for Sterling in his quest for title contention at a new weight class.

Evloev was noncommittal about a rematch with Lopes until Lopes made a name for himself at UFC 303. According to Evloev, Sterling’s the one that’s holding up their fight from happening.

“Hey @Diegolopesmma, I wanna give you a rematch at the Sphere because @funkmastermma is running for his life, and this time I’m gonna finish you,” Evloev wrote on ‘X’ last week.

“Have you finally realized that the way the UFC pays attention to you is by mentioning my name?” Lopes responded to Evloev on ‘X’. “Or are you afraid that tomorrow morning I’ll be in your place in the rankings? It took you 3 months to get back to me. Sit back and watch the big guys do the work.

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