Following his successful title defense against Henry Cejudo on Saturday, bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling spoke to the …
I’ll Joy you’ve had a a few obviously Milestone victories in your career but I gotta imagine that this one in New Jersey feels as sweet as any of the rest of them this one in uh New Jersey is definitely the sweetest um for multiple reasons my first main event taking on a legend someone’s so accomplished like Henry said you know is not not easy task man like yeah we both do YouTube channels and we analyze and break down fights but dude the guy is freaking smart um I don’t think a lot of people can even appreciate what was going on in the middle of that octagon both of us making adjustments to each other’s adjustments it was a high level physical chess match and uh thankfully uh I think I came out just a little bit better and maybe that means my YouTube channel is a little bit better but you you know you said you think it came out a little bit better were you confident when it was going to the judges when it got announced a split were you a bit nervous what was the emotions I mean I was confident I won I was like I definitely feel like I won that three two but at the same time I was like you just never know man like people give ring General ship to the guy who’s just walking forward and making a mean face and it’s like the other guy’s circling around you dancing around you making you look silly you’re missing and they they give it to the other guy because he came forward I’m like that doesn’t score scoring fights is literally doing damage if I’m dancing around you I’m using my footwork and you can’t touch me that’s me controlling the Octagon if you are cutting me off as I’m pressured you’re pressuring me and I’m on the back side of the cage and you’re Landing shots you’re controlling the Octagon you’re controlling the action but that’s not what happened tonight you know so um close fight but I definitely thought I won and edged it out in my personal opinion I know there’s going to be some critics out there saying oh once again he has a controversial win he didn’t really win that man SMD bro get used to this face because it’s not going anywhere guys it’s not uh you’re obviously a fan of this I’m curious you know you got into some wrestling exchanges took us back a couple of times but what was it like to Tango in the wrestling Department with a gold medalist I think I’m an Olympic gold medalist now I think what was that three takedowns I think at least two you got four four you got three I lost count no seriously the strong guy uh I knew I was gonna do better in the clinch um with the body lock he did a great job utilizing the inside leg trip um even though I kind of knew it was coming but there’s certain positions I was like I want him to tie out with me there because I feel like I could bang him to the body a couple of times with some knees and I know Mighty Mouse heard him there and I felt like I can expose that situation so I felt like if he didn’t get the trip he might be a little bit lost in those positions and probably try to bail I think he might have over committed with the wrestling and gave me more opportunities to take him down than he probably would have liked but that’s what I’m saying is such a high level chess matches game Adventures Split Second decisions and uh I came out on top of that I mean just personally curious do you think he was the the highest skilled guy you thought just from terms of spending time in the cage was his adjustments you’re like wow this guy is really Elite uh 100 I mean purion high level Striker uh TJ dildosure high level Striker as well even though he came in slightly compromised I fought with a torn late one as well so you know I’m not giving TJ an excuse to get out of that um but Henry came prepared and that’s what I liked about this matchup there was no excuses No One’s Gonna Come In Here and as soon as the fight’s over I banged up my toe and I couldn’t move the right way and uh shut up man nobody wants to hear that we all have opinions we all have excuses and they all stink nobody wants to hear that you know so um like I said highly skilled guy I came out on top most wins in the bandaway division you know I don’t even like two of my own horn but the records speak for themselves I’ve been saying this for a long time people can keep doubting me but I’ve only had three opponents that were not ranked in my entire career that I fought and uh and I think it was in my win streak that I fought yeah three of them that weren’t ranked so I think it’s about time people start putting some respect on my name next stop Sean O’Malley you had your in cage face off curious if you were able to take anything out of that and they look like they won or Dana was saying he would like to see it maybe August in in Boston if that’s something that would work for you thoughts on Sean O’Malley is frail frail take down a short stocky guy like Henry who’s actually a gold medalist and has good takedown defense what am I going to do to show no Molly like let’s be honest here guys like yeah he’s been promised to title shy he opted not to take the title shot and gave Henry a chance to come back and Chase history I beat Henry now there’s no more running you know you either want to swim with the big boys or you don’t if not get the out of the pool or go up away class or some don’t keep sitting around here talking and barking and not saddling it up and taking the opportunities that are given this is what the Sport’s all about you take the opportunities that are given to you I guarantee you we step in there I think I fold that man in half in one round there’s it’s just gonna same thing I did to San Diego go out there pressure forward he’s going to use his footwork I’m going to cut off the cage like I was just talking about eventually he’s going to be on his back foot let him throw a stupid kick that I’m Gonna Catch I’m going to body lock him I’m gonna fold them in half like a lawn chair and that’s gonna be the fight Sign Sealed Delivered don’t even need to see it now you just gave us the uh the perfect breakdown right here in front of you um just that chaos in there though like a lot of people think something with him and murab um didn’t feel like it was close to getting out of control for a moment in the cage there afterwards I don’t know I was I was in a different world um I was ready to jump on his back if I needed to and I think I might have tapped him and turned him around or I don’t even know what I did but I was just like yo don’t with my boy that’s that’s pretty much it do you think he knows that you’re the tougher fight for him he tweeted out earlier today before the event like please Henry win this fight yeah 100 it’s like you want to fight the guy who’s five foot four and you’re five eleven you’re a better Striker you’re longer your Ranger it’s just it just makes more sense for him to fight Henry gives him the best opportunity to become a UFC champion Styles make fights physicality makes fights and that’s what people have to do you have to analyze the situation and break it down and I think sometimes people just forget about all those things and they just look at oh he’s so good ah the flash is here it’s colorful and he smokes weed dude I smoke weed like what the hell are we talking about like you know what I mean um definitely the tougher fight Jiu Jitsu wrestling I can strike my striking is very awkward I will say even with Henry I thought I was going to piece him up with a couple of shots from the outside and it didn’t quite go that way in my head it looked a lot better as like reality versus what it looks like so I know there’s got to be some things I got to tighten up with that especially going in there with a guy like a Molly because he’s had almost a year to make adjustments but I’ll be ready and um I I’m not priding myself to be a striker I am a Grappler foremost so if you have a problem with that like khabib says his father’s plan I’m coming out there with a purpose and take you down and drown you and that’s it is it exciting to prepare for a fight where your opponent is more or less one-dimensional compared to these recent guys that you’ve been fighting who you know have strong wrestling uh Jiu Jitsu and striking is it more exciting yeah and is it going to be maybe an easier camp and more straightforward approach for you what you need to do and none of these camps are easy man I I got some hammers that I train with um you know and it’s a fight to fight like he can easily land a one-two that stings me right on the chin and put me down and then that’s just what it is it’s a fist fight like anything can happen in there and I’m I understand that the last time I underestimated somebody I was staring at the lights and I don’t remember staring at the lights I woke up in a hospital I came to my senses in the hospital against Marlboro rise you know so uh I’ve been humbled by this Sport and I think O’Malley needs to be humbled again I guess him breaking his foot against Cheeto that wasn’t enough for him so I got to do it again to him and just last thing for me uh Henry was just in here before you he feels maybe he won the fight but he’s saying he had to watch her back and he seems very internally conflicted about what he’s going to do in the future what would be your advice Jim do you think he should stick around and be part of this stack Division and work towards a rematch uh yeah excited it is for this Division and I think more people are going to want a gun for him to add his name to their resume Henry’s no easy out for anybody I know he doesn’t like cutting the weight down to 125. he was a thick boy in there um I I think it’d be fun to have them around for sure and uh you know I plan on fighting O’Malley and then going up and chasing volkonoski so I’m taking Henry’s blueprint and I just need to get one more and then I think that’s it for 135. champ on that no congratulations on the victory so it’s a guarantee that you only have one more fight at the 135 pound weight division before you go up to 145. it just depends on how the fight goes you know if I lose you know knock on wood then you know I stick around morap gets his shot at 135 for the belt and I help him and it is what it is fighting at 135 it yeah I I don’t say I’m the bigger guy but it’s I make the weight you know but the weight cut is not easy and it’s not as fun going through the training camps when you’re you have to make sure you’re predominantly cutting weight um when you can be skill building and I’m not saying that’s how much weight I cut it’s just I’m very lean and I’ve gotten older it makes it harder 145 could be a breath of fresh life for me and it can make me it can make it easier for me to fight more frequently so that’s that’s kind of the way I’m looking at it I can bulk up a little bit maybe I’m not fading in that fifth round as much as I’m doing now I don’t think I really faded in the fifth round tonight I think it was just Henry’s energy and his demeanor to want to win that round uh really shine through and I was kind of kicking myself about that because I want to dominate the fifth round and show my dominance and I I was really pissed about that so that’s one thing that’s probably why I was a little more reluctant to celebrate because I want to put a stamp on it something kind of like a highlight or a cool ending to the fight even like a Max Holloway thing pointing to the ground like let’s go like I wanted that but then he got to take down kept Me Against the Cage I was like this is not the way I want the end of the fifth round to go but it is what it is a positive thing he said about you was you are the greatest band of Wayne of all time ask them that so when you hear that from Henry sahudo how does that make you feel I I appreciate it um I let the fans decide that though and uh it is what it is I can’t really that’s that’s not for me to call that’s why that’s why I love sports because everyone has a different opinion on who’s the greatest and why they’re the greatest and uh that’s up for interpretation so I let the fans decide on that and uh for me I know I’m up there I know I’m in that conversation and at the end of the day I’m comfortable in my own skin you know I don’t need that for approval to feel self-worth you know I’m happy I accomplish a lot in this sport I accomplish a lot in this division I’m making history my name’s gonna be in the history books for years to come decades to come and good luck to anybody out there who’s going to try to chase that resume because it’s going to be very tough to be and lastly you’ve been dealing with nagging injuries quite some time now you went down to Columbia bio accelerator he got the stem cells how you feeling overall with this camp and you think you’re going to have to need any surgeries or anything like that before the next fight I mean right now I’m feeling good I think I could take a few weeks off and let the stem cells continue to do their thing build on the injuries with the rehab stuff that I’m doing over at the ufcpi algeman stone days May 23rd so I get to celebrate that back in Long Island Nassau County so I’m excited about that I get to have some down time with my friends actually create some memories outside of fighting so I’m looking forward to that as well um just sign a new partnership with nerdfocus so there’s a lot of good things nootropic energy drink so I’m just looking towards the future keep my body healthy do as best as I can to stay consistent I would like to fight in September then fight again in December uh people think I just want to sit on the sidelines I only get paid when I fight so guys I don’t want to settle the sidelines I want to be active but when I get injured through these training camps it’s hard you know so I’m trying to do the best that I can all of us like to make money all of us want to be active and we know the fans love it so that’s what we’re trying to do we try to put it on the line for them time in and time out congratulations on a huge win you packed this house you broke records you and Henry put on a master meat piece like you guys were Van Gogh and rembrand out there you guys paid a masterpiece in that on that canvas is this more than just a title defense for you this is validation you are everything that you say you are uh I I felt validated well before this but I know for the fans some of the fans out there they might feel like this gives me a little bit more validity but everyone’s gonna always have an opinion they’re going to have something to criticize and say and at the end of the day that’s not for me to judge um it is what it is like what like what can I do I can’t force someone to believe what I believe if so either you agree you don’t agree I’m out here trying to chase something great I’m out here really trying to do something with my life and I’m not saying other people aren’t uh but this ain’t an easy sport man there’s a lot of people who don’t stick around they don’t last very long barely even make it to their second UFC contract I’ve been here since 2014 and that says a lot that says a lot about my resilience says a lot about perseverance just not quitting giving up on yourself when the time gets tough I lost two fights in a row split decision to two guys ranked in the top ten and uh my job was on the line you know that after my very first contract going into my second one after talking a whole lot of about wanting to fight get paid and then I lose two fights in a row so that’s how quickly things could change I could be here one day down here the next so I I don’t take it for granted whatsoever I think that’s what people should try to realize about life just don’t take nothing for granted man life is short go out there chase the things that you want to do and go get it man don’t let no one dictate or tell you what you can and cannot do because if you do that your entire life you’ll never get nowhere and if I listen to everyone else who said I was done I had no chin and whatnot you know I’ll just be back home just being a gym teacher and never knowing what I could have truly accomplished because I didn’t chase my dream and my goals here I am today three defenses in a row like life is good like I had no idea I’d be here bought my mom a house bought her a car like life this is icing on the cake for me like thank you to the UFC staff for providing this opportunity for me to ever set out to do something like this and gratitude is the the biggest way of just showing signs of respect for me and um yeah I might talk a little to my opponents but at the end of the day I know we’re all chasing the same dreams and like I said before sometimes in this boy you gotta crushed another man’s dreams to accomplish your own you showcase so much creativity and intelligence in there and um the strategy it seemed like because some of it was just way over my head some of the technique that you were uh you were showcasing but it was a strategy to make sure that he didn’t get that shot off because people would stay out of the pocket uh and that’s what what Henry uses because people are afraid of the takedown so you know he he always keeps people at Bay because they’re afraid to take down he’s able to get shots off what’s the strategy from the Great regalongo and the great Matt Sarah and yourself two to keep that pressure on it and how soon were you able to make adjustments that did you have a plan B and plan C in case uh that didn’t work yeah I I always have a plan B and plan C you got to be able to adjust and I think coming into this fight collectively we all knew you like if I get the fight to the ground he’s but you know for the most part I didn’t really get to do too much on the ground because of the timing of when I got the takedowns uh so it was just more so trying to be creative on the feet not taking too much damage and inflicting as much as I can to try to out point where I can outpoint and if I could get the takedown try to do as much damage as I can and in the clinch beat him up in the clinch being the bigger heavier guy longer guy uh I know he has some trouble with Mighty Mouse in the clinch position and I felt my range and my length being able to just lift my knees attack the body I’ll be able to beat them up in those positions and that’s what we did tonight so collectively we all have like our ideas that we think about which can be the keys to Victory and that’s just kind of the way we go like at this stage of the game if these Fighters aren’t taking notes that’s a sad thing you have to be able to adjust in the middle of the fight if you don’t if you can’t make adjustments good luck because it is hard man you you get to the top you don’t get hit by accident you have to be one of those guys who can flip the switch change it up and literally split seconds and make reads and one more question for me can we all agree after this week that morab is a National Treasure and needs to be protected at all costs I think we all need a friend like marab in life just saying a hundred percent man like I said this guy would take his shirt off for anybody even not even knowing any one of you guys he would do that for you guys that’s just the type of dude he is there’s not a lot of good people in the world like that today um yeah I think sometimes people forget like even though you know we fight this kind of a rough Savage sport but we’re still human at the end of the day and he’s like a prime example of what it’s like to be outside of the cage like we’re in here we’re trying to be vicious we’re trying to break records we’re trying to hurt each other but outside of that you know he’s a really good dude we’re really good people at least I like to think that and uh I think that’s the way you kind of got to live your life like I treat the janitor the same way I treat the president of the UFC like there’s there’s no difference you know I think that shows a lot of character and I when I see people judge people when treat people different ways because of their status in life it I I don’t like that I I can’t get behind someone who’s like that jump over here to the to the far right over here um I wanted to ask about did you get a chance to see Conor McGregor’s messages after the the fight he was very complimentary he said you won the fight 4-1 and he was uh he was not very complimentary of Henry’s performance Khan is my guy proper 12 baby let’s go now I I didn’t see the tweet yet um but I do I would like to talk to Connor about uh pursuing my own rum career with my own drink I’m looking to still launch my own line I got some stuff lined up some designs and some things like that in the works uh I do like the drink I actually didn’t drink this entire training camp which is a first for me in a very long time uh but you know life is about creating new adventures and things like that eventually this door is going to close I want to make sure I set myself up so I do appreciate the words from Connor he was very complimentary of morab before his fight with Pio deyan when we met him in Vegas and uh I like watching fight he’s a pioneer of the sport like if you can’t respect that guy um I don’t know what to tell you like I know some of this stuff some of the Antics could get a little crazy but what he’s done and accomplished I think is hard to uh ignore final two and aljo right here congratulations how was it having uh coach Sarah back in your corner tonight I was great you know it was cool especially like this is we’re back on the East Coast we’re in New Jersey where everyone fought coming up because it was illegal in New York for such a long time uh so to have the old band back together was cool to to have the energy was positive everyone was dialed in alert and that’s what it’s all about everyone being on the same page and um like even the other guys that I’ve had in the past like like for me I I I’m I’m good with like it doesn’t really matter who’s in the corner but it does it does matter like the camaraderie kind of thing you know so it was cool having that again having that original uh Long Island feel again so that was nice to do and on top of that making history with the guys that I started with you know so um definitely appreciative of that and glad he took uh um my offer to come back and and jump in with me and chase a dream I’ll go over here you mentioned not drinking in the lead-up to this fight how did your body feel and kind of respond to that and do you think that’s something you’ll be repeating nah I like the drink man you know what it is I these training camps are so hard after I have a crazy horse barn session if I feel like I’m in a certain threshold of my conditioning that’s like my release you know everyone has a release that has advice something that kind of lets them reset and it’s not like I get drunk or wasted doing training camp but I have like one or two drinks and that’s it and uh it makes me feel better makes me feel more happy going through the grind because if you’re just serious all the time and then you’re not even guaranteed to win you know like I could have lost that fight and it’d be like well I drank I didn’t drink for no reason you know what I mean so it’s about sacrifices and things like that hey I do sacrifice all the other stuff but you know you got to have a little bit of a balance so it’s not something that I’m gonna say I’m gonna go back to um this was more so because of the injury that I had I wanted to give the stem cells the proper time not destroy it with alcohol and uh I I can’t say I felt a lot better I really can’t say that but um maybe there’s something to it I don’t know but for me I’d rather be happy and trained versus like thinking about it and be like man I wish you know so I’m not gonna go I don’t I don’t condone binge drinking but I do condone just enjoying your life and having a balance it’s got to be a work-life balance and the other question I wanted to ask was about your teammate Matt frivola who got a big victory as well what did you think of that Steamroller big going baby welcome to the top 15 baby the steam has arrived we got some Killers coming up man there’s a lot of Young Guns coming up um for vola finally getting his breakthrough shine three Knockouts in a row in the first round uh we got Nasim also uh third round TKO a lot of 55s we got some hammers man I I try to give these guys shine as much as I can because when I was coming up I didn’t have anybody doing that for me so I tried to highlight these guys as much as possible they are super special talent and if you guys like Strikers those are the guys to watch like I ain’t the striker guys I’m the grappler I’m gonna take you down I’m gonna drown you backpack you those guys they bang so if you want to watch some high level striking those are the guys to keep your eyes on because they’re fun to watch you gotta watch their sparring sessions it’s like it’s pay-per-view it’s literally pay-per-view sessions thank you aljo thank you guys man appreciate you all be safe and get home safe and have a drink for me Cinco de Mayo baby let’s go