"Had NO idea who he was" - Aljamain Sterling reveals he was “TKO/KO’d” by phenom Zabit Magomedsharipov in training years ago
Aljamain Sterling's featherweight debut in the promotion came at UFC 300 against a tough challenger in Calvin Kattar.
Kattar, a longtime contender in the division, is known mostly as a striker. But prior to his clash with Sterling, he held an impressive takedown defense record of 91%, ranking inside the division's top 5.
'Funk Master' was able to dominate the Bostonian throughout the fight, employing his grappling-heavy style to take Kattar down continually. The former bantamweight champion secured eight of his 13 takedown attempts.
Sterling was recently commended by a fan online for his performance against the No.9-ranked featherweight. They also noted that 'Funk Master' controlled Kattar in a manner that not even phenom Zabit Magomedsharipov could do when they fought at UFC Fight Night 163.
In a surprising revelation, the Jamaican-born American then shared that Magomedsharipov had knocked him out during a training session in 2017. He also noted that his fight with Kattar "scared" him due to the Bostonian's performance against the Russian.
'Funk Master' wrote this:
"Zabit TKO/KO'd me in training back in 2017, when I [was] smaller and had NO idea who he was. This fight was scary for me because of how well he fought Zabit, and I'm thoroughly happy with the perfomrance over a beast of a competitor."
See Aljamain Sterling's post below:
Aljamain Sterling believes he had the "most dominant" victory of anyone at UFC 300
Aljamain Sterling took on Calvin Kattar as part of a stacked UFC 300 preliminary card on April 13.
'Funk Master' found great success in his first fight at 145 pounds since 2011 and dominated his opponent en route to a unanimous decision victory.
To put it in perspective, Kattar landed only 19 strikes over 15 minutes, compared to Sterling's 89 total strikes landed.
During a recent recap of the prestigious pay-per-view, 'Funk Master' stated that his performance was arguably the most dominant showing out of anyone on the card. His comments may raise the eyebrows of some fans, given Max Holloway's incredible display against Justin Gaethje.
The former bantamweight champion uploaded his UFC 300 recap on YouTube, where he said this:
"Our fight on that particular night of UFC 300 was not the most entertaining. But it was the most dominant fight I think you could have possibly looked at from the entire card from top to bottom."
Watch Aljamain Sterling's recap below from 4:00: