Aljamain Sterling Eyes New Weight Class Amidst Daniel Cormier's Challenge

The former bantamweight titleholder wants to prove this UFC Hall of Famer wrong.

Aljamain Sterling appears to be even more interested in chasing a featherweight bout with Max Holloway, after UFC Hall-of-Famer Daniel Cormier had some heavy-handed criticisms of the idea. 

"DC" shot down Sterling's featherweight intentions in a recent episode of 'DC & RC', explaining that Holloway is "too big" for Sterling, and that "Funk Master" would "be in some real, deep trouble."

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Sterling is coming off his first loss in almost six years, having suffered a second-round knockout by Sean O’Malley in their main event clash at UFC 292 in Boston. In addition to costing Sterling his bantamweight title, the result also appeared to scrap his plans to move up to the featherweight division and vacate the 135-pound weight class for his friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili.

The 34-year-old has been campaigning for a rematch with O’Malley, but in light of Cormier's remarks, it seems that Sterling might be tempted to move up a division just to prove his critics wrong.

Sterling lost his bantamweight title to Sean O'Malley at UFC 292.  :: (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

“I know [Cormier] was saying that he likes me but he doesn’t think I should fight Max Holloway," Sterling said on his YouTube channel. "That kind of makes me wanna just go up right out of the gate and just call him out, and just say ‘You know what, I wanna show you guys what’s up.’ I know he said if I struggled with O’Malley’s height and size – but did I actually struggle? I made one mistake, compared to the first round where mostly I was pretty disciplined.”

Sterling did largely manage to nullify O’Malley’s striking game during the opening round of their bout, but it took less than a minute for “Sugar” to drop the defending champion in the second round and finish the fight with ground strikes.

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Holloway is one of the greatest fighters to ever compete in UFC’s featherweight division, and despite the fact that the Hawaiian is a bigger man who also likes to strike at range, Sterling believes that Cormier is underestimating how much he’d benefit from not making the cut to 135 pounds.

Holloway is one of the greatest featherweights in UFC history.  :: (Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports)

“It’s not like [O’Malley] had some crazy length advantage where he could hit me from Guam and I can’t touch him…To say that I would struggle [against Holloway], well that kind of gets me going. That kind of gets me to wanna just be like ‘Okay, I’ll show you guys what’s up,’ Because I don’t think people really understand what ‘big body' Aljo can do compared to ‘scrawny but shredded’ Aljo. It’s just a different man power.”

It’s still unclear who the first challenger for O’Malley’s bantamweight title will be, and although Sterling likely deserves an immediate rematch following his lengthy reign as champion, it looks like the UFC may be hesitant about giving him a chance to reclaim the belt.

If Sterling does in fact decide to move up to featherweight, then a fight with Holloway could provide a chance for the 34-year-old to jump straight into title contention in a new division. 

“Blessed” has come up short in three matchups with Alexander Volkanovski, but the former champion has been able to best every other featherweight he’s faced and has picked up back-to-back wins this year.

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