Sterling ‘hungry’ ahead of UFC 310 fight against Evloev

Aljamain Sterling is out to prove a point at UFC 310, with the former bantamweight champion disgruntled by his placement the preliminary card this Sunday (AEDT) at the T-Mobile Arena.

He faces No.5 featherweight contender Movsar Evloev in Las Vegas, and UFC betting sites have the American as a +235 underdog to prevail.

It is the second consecutive bout where Sterling finds himself demoted to the prelims, having fought in a main event title fight just a year and a half ago.

“I think people are going to be in for a very big surprise and the UFC is going to realise, ‘We messed up big time by not putting this on the main card’,” he said in a recent interview.

“I guess they have their rhyme or reason for what they do, the UFC brass.

“At the end of the day it’s not my organisation, I don’t call the shots, I just go out there and compete.

“It’s up to me to go out there and prove these guys wrong that we are, and I am, a main card fighter.”

Since losing the bantamweight belt to Sean O’Malley in August 2023, Sterling has returned to featherweight and fallen to No.9 in the divisional rankings.

However, having not fought since April, Sterling says he is hungry and well prepared coming into UFC 310.

“It’s a little bit of a longer extended camp, but I think it just makes me more hungry to get out there,” he said.

“I’m in a new headspace. I’m a new weight class. My energy levels are better.

“We’re going to make this a fight. We’re going to make this a dogfight.”

Sterling explained that he felt pressured into his 2023 fight against O’Malley, which sparked the downturn in his career.

“I asked for, ironically, an extra month, because Movsar was trying to push me to come back sooner than I wanted to and I told them I’m not going to do that again,” he said.

“I learned my lesson from the last fight, which was my loss to O’Malley, and I told myself I’ll never let somebody push me into a corner over money again.

“It’s when I feel like coming back, and it’s when I feel good mentally because you have to want to be in there to compete.

“At the end of the day, I’ve accomplished what I need to accomplish so now when I compete it’s on my terms.”

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