Former UFC champ was hoping to get "4 defences" and fight Alexander Volkanovski after vacating the title "in a perfect world"
A former UFC bantamweight champion shared that if he could have defended his title again, he would have been willing to vacate it to fight Alexander Volkanovski at featherweight. However, Aljamain Sterling lost his 135-pound throne to Sean O'Malley.
One fan on X claimed that Merab Dvalishvili wouldn’t want Sterling to vacate while ‘Funk Master’ was arguably on the greatest title reign. Sterling responded to the post, sharing his plans when he was bantamweight champion and explaining that he would have vacated the belt and moved up to fight Volkanovski. He wrote:
“Of course not. And that’s the appreciation and respect level we have for each other. In a perfect world, I was hoping to get 4 defences then vacate and fight Volk. I really believe Merab will beat my title defences. I want him to.”
Check out Aljamain Sterling’s X post below:
'Funk Master' eventually moved up a division following his title loss to O'Malley and secured a victory in his debut at 145 pounds against Calvin Kattar. However, he faced defeat by Movsar Evloev at UFC 310.
Meanwhile, ‘The Great’ is out of action after suffering a knockout loss to the unbeaten Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 in February. Since then, he has been demanding a rematch. 'El Matador', following his first title defense against Max Holloway at UFC 308, said in his octagon interview that the Aussie deserves the rematch.
Ilia Topuria’s coach on Alexander Volkanovski rematch
Ilia Topuria recently shared his plans to vacate the title and move up to the lightweight division as he aims to become a double champion. In a recent interview on Submission Radio, the Spaniard's coach, Jorge Climent, explained why ‘El Matador’ is planning to move up a division:
"The reality is, he hates that weight [cut]. He did it a lot of times. It's harder every time we do it. He touched the [underworld], he doesn't want to do it anymore. That's why he wants to go up to the next weight class."
Furthermore, he said that a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski isn't possible now:
"I don't think he is going to defend the featherweight title. I think he wants to go to lightweight... He wants to fight with ranked guys to go for the belt... If Alex fights at featherweight, I don't think [we will fight him again]."
Check out Jorge Climent’s comments below (0:35, 3:55):