Aljamain Sterling is the undisputed number one contender for the bantamweight belt. ‘Funkmaster’ secured an impressive first-round submission win over top-ranked Cory Sandhagen to earn this shot.
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Sterling was scheduled to take on Petr Yan before the end of the year. However, Visa issues forced the Russian to withdraw from the bout. The fight will now take place early, 2021.
Sterling will be hoping to snap a ten-fight win streak as he aims to dethrone the recently crowned champion.
However, Sterling is aiming to keep himself busy and in-shape by participating in an exhibition wrestling match against talented wrestler Roman Bravo-Young
Read: “Needles are a hell of a drug”- Aljamain Sterling hits back at TJ Dillashaw’s recent claims
Aljamain Sterling jokes around with Petr Yan on Twitter
Leading up to his exhibition bout, Sterling tweeted, “Hey brother .@PetrYanUFC, I’m wrestling tonight. You can watch me on .@TheRokfin app at 8pm EST. It’s a very good show. Don’t miss us! до скорого.”
Congrats, I heard you did will since there’s no punches involved. See you soon https://t.co/Ysy4W4o9Tg
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) December 23, 2020
‘No Mercy’ replied, “Congrats, I heard you did will since there’s no punches involved. See you soon”
Sterling is set to take on Roman Bravo-Young in an exhibition match. The wrestler is a two-time all American and one time big ten runner-ups out of Penn State University. At present, he is the fourth-ranked pound-for-pound fighter on the NCAA’s 133-pound list.
The wrestler put out a tweet that said, “Most MMA Fighters couldn’t pin a tweet…I challenge anyone to a wrestling match for Charity. The $$$ goes to help teach @jakepaul how to fight.”
The tweet piqued the interest of Sterling, who took Roman up on his challenge. A few twitter exchanges and days later it was made official.
IT’S OFFICIAL!!! December 22nd, I’m dusting off the wrestling shoes against .@romanbravoyoung! ☝🏾🎒
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D1 vs D3 wrestling baby! This will be a feature match LIVE on .@TheRokfin. Link in my bio!
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6 minutes wrestling.
3 minutes of BJJ.
Who you guys got? Drop a comment below! 🤼♂️ pic.twitter.com/7N2AgXYjuC— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) December 7, 2020
The pair will compete in an exhibition match comprising 6 minutes of wrestling and 3 minutes of BJJ. Sterling is an extremely high-level black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Matt Serra.
It will be interesting to see how Sterling fares against a high-level wrestler, and on the flip side, it will be interesting to see how the young wrestler fares against one of the best bantamweights in the UFC.
What do you make of the exhibition bout? Who do you think will have the upper-hand?