Aljamain Sterling on Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez: ‘The wrestling aspect, I could exploit that’

February 26, 2024 2:40 pm ET

Aljamain Sterling has a bunch of new challenges awaiting him as he makes his featherweight debut.

Former bantamweight champion Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) will move up to 145 pounds to take on Calvin Kattar (23-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) at UFC 300 on April 13 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Sterling watched Brian Ortega (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) rebound by choking out Yair Rodriguez (18-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 237 headliner, and likes how he matches up against either one.

“It’s funny because I never looked at these guys as opponents,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I definitely look at the wrestling aspect. I could exploit that. They’re both tough. They’re durable. You can hit them, but they’re not going to go down.

“You’ve got to be smart. You’ve got to mix it up. Even if you get a takedown, they’re going to be looking to get back up – Ortega throwing up submissions off of his back, Yair throwing up submissions and punches off of his back.”

Prior to losing his bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292, Sterling had taken down the likes of Olympic gold medalist wrestler Henry Cejudo, and former champions T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan numerous times.

But Sterling admits he was impressed with the improvements Ortega made in his wrestling.

“People were telling me this is a good fight for me,” Sterling said of Ortega. “I’m like, ‘I think so.’ But we also don’t know how much better he’s gotten with the downtime, and I think we finally got to see that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

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