![]() Sterling will have a major advantage in size difference Saturday night. He’s good and talented, but when he gets some pushback, will he be in there for the dogfight or will he bend over and quit? As of now, I’m looking at him as if he’s the toughest opponent I’ve had to face, and he’s going to be looking to scrap in every position.” How much does he actually want to fight? That’s the difference. “It’s kind of hard to say exactly where he is with his mentality right now. “I do think there will be, but everyone is different,” Sterling said. Will he look the same at 36 as he did in his prime? Will there be ring rust? Cejudo retired after his win over Cruz in May 2020, vacating the belt. Questions loom, however, over how he’ll fare after nearly three years away from the sport. He’s just mentally getting stronger and physically getting stronger.” After he did that, he really embraced what was going on. That Yan fight, just from a mentality standpoint, was a huge hurdle to overcome. ![]() ![]() “He went out there and made a really nice statement. I don’t care who you are - the pressure had to be really, really tough,” Longo said. “I think the biggest fight of his career was the second Yan fight. On multiple occasions in that matchup, particularly in the second and third rounds, Sterling took his opponent’s back and nearly secured rear-naked choke attempts.įor Sterling’s coach, Ray Longo, that split-decision victory showed the MMA world his fighter deserved gold around his waist. He proved that without a doubt in their second fight, consistently landing body kicks and also taking Yan to the mat for heavy ground-and-pound. Sterling, the UFC’s bantamweight champion, has shown he can be dangerous in all aspects of the fight, the best example coming in his highly anticipated rematch with former titleholder Petr Yan in April 2022.Īfter Sterling (22-3) claimed the division’s belt on a disqualification of Yan for an illegal knee, he faced immense pressure to prove he wasn’t a paper champion. It’s an MMA fight, and I think my wrestling will be more than enough and my overall grappling ability will be able to show that there’s levels to this grappling game in MMA.” “I hope he’s ready to take this fight wherever it goes because it’s not going to be a straight-up standup fight it’s not going to be a grappling match. But at the end of the day, he can’t stop me from implementing my game plan and doing what I want to do. I think he believes that’s his best option and path to victory, which is smart. “I think he wants to stand up and strike. “No matter what he wants to say - he’s going to take me down or he’s going to stop my takedowns - I don’t think he wants to grapple,” Sterling told The Athletic. He doesn’t see this fight going in that direction at all.
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