Aljamain Sterling doesn’t want to retire, but uncertain on future after UFC 310 loss

Aljamain Sterling is giving himself a reality check.

Movsar Evloev defeated Sterling in a closely fought preliminary bout at UFC 310 this past Saturday, a matchup that was potentially to determine the No. 1 contender at 145 pounds. Sterling, a former bantamweight champion, fought Evloev in a hotly contested grappling match, but fell short on the cards.

On his The Weekly Scraps Podcast, Sterling revealed that he spoke to his team after the loss and was open about the possibility of retirement.

“When we were in the back room, [Coach Ray Longo] had just stepped out and I told the guys, I was like, ‘I’m going to let you guys know I don’t really know what I’m going to do from here. I need to let it settle a little bit, but at 35, I don’t know if I really want to climb the ladder all over again,’” Sterling said. “I don’t want to say from scratch, but the end goal is so much further. I’m at a point where it’s, like, is that worth the time invested for the surgeries, the pain, the training, the sacrifice?

“Do I still have have that fight to commit to do that all the way up until the belt again, knowing that there’s still a good chance, like there’s still some other dogs that I could potentially fight and not have the fight go my way. So I’m not ignorant to that. It’s just kind of like making a decision. Do I continue or do I just help out the guys and help them get ready for their fights and whatnot and maybe just take fun fights. I don’t know, I don’t want to retire, but I’ve got to see what the UFC offers and then kind of make a decision to go from there to see where my position is.”

Sterling dropped to 1-1 since moving up to featherweight this past April. After losing the bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley via knockout at UFC 292, Sterling bounced back with a decision win over ranked 145-pound fighter Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. That put him on the fast track to a shot at a second title, but the loss to Evloev puts a stop to that talk for now.

It’s not even the results that Sterling is most concerned with, rather the grueling process one must go through to get to those results.

“It’s tough to even talk like this because I’m only 35,” Sterling said “I know people think like you still look good and everything, but my body hurts. I can’t train the way I used to. I used to do two, three training sessions a day, I can’t do that no more. Even the grappling sessions that I would do to make ‘35, I feel like I can’t do that anymore. I can’t train the way I used to and I don’t know if that gave me an edge or just broke my body down more, but that’s just where I’m at. So I’ve just got to see where the chips fall and go from there.”

All three judges scored the fight the same, giving Sterling Round 1 and the last two rounds to Evloev. It’s that third round that Sterling regrets the most as he felt he did enough to potentially earn the nod.

One thing is for sure, he’d love to get another chance to hand Evloev his first loss.

“I don’t know, I’m still kind of torn on the third round,” Sterling said. “I can see how they gave him the third, though, but I’m still kind of like, three-and-a-half minutes versus a minute and a half. I know he was throwing the little busy punches, but I don’t know, I’m still kind of torn, I feel like I landed the more effective strikes in the beginning on the feet. The big slam. I felt I slammed him on his head.

“It is what it is, I get it. I’m not too torn about, but I can see why there’s a lot of people split, like I should have won the third. I did wish I got a Ciryl Gane decision and got the nod for that one. … I think this one thing in the back of my mind is like, I just think we’ve got to do it again. I really do. The guy’s good, I still think I can beat him. I still really believe I can beat him. I don’t think that that fight left me like I’m not on his level, I can’t become a champion at this weight class, I felt like there left more to be desired after that from myself.”