Aljamain Sterling walked out of Meta APEX on Saturday with a dominant unanimous decision win over Youssef Zalal in the UFC Fight Night 274 main event and immediately turned his attention to the featherweight title picture.
Sterling, now 3-1 since moving to 145 pounds after a bantamweight title loss, controlled the fight over the 18-6-1 (8-4-1 UFC) Zalal and felt he delivered nearly perfectly. "I did what I wanted to do," Sterling said. "I really thought I could get him out of there. But again, he's just a really tough dude... At the end of the day, I thought that was as close to a flawless performance as I can get. I probably got a 10-8 round somewhere in there."
Post-fight, the 36-year-old weighed in on who should challenge Alexander Volkanovski next, pointing to a familiar name. "You guys all watched Movsar vs. Lerone Murphy, and I'm just saying I let the fans decide. I let the UFC brass decide. I do think Movsar deserves it," Sterling said of Movsar Evloev, who owns a closely contested decision win over him from December 2024.
Still, Sterling made it clear he would not turn down a title shot if it came his way. "But if they do offer me the opportunity, I'm not going to say no," he said. "If they offer it to me, then hell yeah I'm taking it. I'm going to give it everything I've got until the wheels fall off."
With the UFC yet to announce Volkanovski’s next title fight and many forecasting Evloev as the leading contender, Sterling summed up his stance simply: "At the end of the day, the UFC makes the decisions. I'm just here to do my part."
