Aljamain Sterling has his sights set on rising talent Diego Lopez if his fight with Movsar Evloev doesn’t materialise.
Sterling was originally scheduled to face Evloev at UFC 307 on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, but “The Funk Master” was forced to pull out due to an injury he sustained during training camp. Sterling is hoping to rebook the bout with Evloev. Reportedly It will not remain on the UFC 307 card at a later date.
If Evloev doesn’t wait, Sterling would love to face Lopez. The former bantamweight champion has praised Lopez’s rapid rise to stardom in the past year. Sterling knew Lopez as a polite and personable guy when they previously trained together, but now you can sense the familiar tension when the two potential opponents meet.
Sterling always thought a matchup with Brian Ortega might be his springboard into a title shot, but after Lopez took a major step toward a featherweight title shot by beating Ortega by unanimous decision on Sept. 14 at UFC 306, Sterling now believes the reward is worth the risk.
“It could be Diego Lopez,” Sterling recently told Schmo. “Maybe it’s [No.] 3 [ranking]… Diego’s rise to stardom and his success in the UFC has been nothing short of inspiring, to be honest. I’m happy for him. I trained with him once. He’s a very nice, respectful guy. Now, every time I see him, I feel like the tension has changed a little bit. I feel like there’s a little bit more tension…
“Speaking of the next best fight, if Mobsur says no, I don’t know who else I’d fight. But if I had the choice, I always wanted to fight Brian Ortega, so I’d have the closest shot at the top. And now the next closest is Diego Lopez. That’s it. It has nothing to do with what the guy has done or anything like that, it’s the name value, what it will do for me, the risk and reward. If I’m going to take a risk for money, I’m going to take a risk for this guy.”
Sterling lost the bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley by knockout last year before moving up to 145 pounds and winning a dominant unanimous decision over Calvin Kattar in his debut at UFC 300 in April of this year, while Lopez made his UFC debut on short notice last year and lost by unanimous decision to Evloev at UFC 288. The Brazilian has since reeled off five straight wins, including three first-round wins.
