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UFC Bantamweight Championship
CHAMPION | Aljamain Sterling (21-3, 13-3 UFC) vs. #2 BW | T.J. Dillashaw (17-4, 13-4 UFC)Advertisement
At one point, Sterling’s rise to the bantamweight title seemed inevitable, but given the course of the last few years, it is still a bit surprising to see the “Funk Master” as the undisputed king at 135 pounds. Sterling hit the UFC in 2014 as the next great product out of Long Island. A talented mat specialist with some unorthodox wrestling and grappling chops, Sterling also had the long frame that figured to serve him well as he developed his game over the years. Sterling lived up to the considerable hype with four dominant wins to kick off his UFC career, at which point the company seemed ready to put some promotional weight behind him. Naturally, that was when things went south. At that point, Sterling had developed a kick-heavy striking game that seemed neither particularly efficient or connected to his wrestling, which cost him contentious decision losses to Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao that essentially killed his momentum. Upon getting back on track with two wins, Sterling suffered a head kick knockout in just 67 seconds against Marlon Moraes, suggesting his window for championship contention might be permanently closed. After cruising to a few more wins, a 2019 decision over Jimmie Rivera served as Sterling’s true breakout. With his wrestling and grappling as strong as ever, Sterling finally flashed the high-volume and effective striking to completely round himself out as a championship-level fighter. From there, it was off to the races until his March 2021 title challenge against Petr Yan, which went about as poorly as possible up until the point that Sterling found himself as champion. Sterling’s fast-paced approach caused him to tire much quicker than Yan, who also shockingly proved himself to be the better wrestler, leaving his counterpart without much in the way of answers. Naturally, Yan then knocked Sterling out with a calculated but illegal knee, handing him the title via disqualification; of course, the Matt Serra protégé bore the brunt of the public’s wrath for supposedly taking the easy way out. That made it a bit cathartic when, after a 13-month wait, Sterling retained the title fair and square in a rematch that was essentially an even fight. Sterling was much more composed in the second encounter and took advantage of an uncharacteristically wild Yan, finding spots to take his back and ride out rounds hunting for submissions. As great as the moment was for Sterling, there is little rest to be had in what might be the UFC’s best division. Yan lurks as one of many tough potential contenders, but for now, Sterling has to turn back another former champion in Dillashaw.
It is a bit funny to think that Dillashaw was an afterthought underdog as a title challenger back in 2014, when he beat Renan Barao in one of the more stunning championship upsets in UFC history. From there, Dillashaw remained one of the consensus top bantamweights in the world to the present day, owing to his ability to mix in what was then the cutting edge of a movement-heavy striking style to go along with his wrestling background. With that said, Dillashaw has a strange resume to look back on, as he is essentially a bridge from Barao’s dominance to the more loaded 135-pound picture of today. While Dillashaw did regain the bantamweight title after dropping a controversial split decision to Dominick Cruz, his actual success as champion mostly came against Barao and Cody Garbrandt, both of whom fell off hard after their fights with the Californian. After wrapping things up with Garbrandt, Dillashaw’s second title reign essentially ended before it began. He cut down to 125 pounds to challenge flyweight champion Henry Cejudo in a surprising move, got knocked out in 32 seconds and then failed a post-fight drug test for EPO, costing him two years of his career, as well as the belt. That self-inflicted layoff is why Dillashaw feels like such an anachronism, as he has had all of one fight in roughly the last four years. To his credit, that one showing was an impressive win over Cory Sandhagen, as Dillashaw constantly used his wrestling and clinch work to control one of the division’s most dynamic threats, along with clearly keeping up the pace over five rounds. However, that was also a narrow win for Dillashaw, and with the former champ coming off a year-plus injury layoff against a tougher opponent, this would be much more of an upset. For one thing, Sterling will not offer the clear openings Sandhagen did. With Sterling having turned the corner as a striker years ago, it feels like he is a better physical talent than Dillashaw while also working with the next evolution of the style that the former champion brought to the table. Dillashaw will not be an easy out, but this clearly looks like the champion’s fight to lose. The pick is Sterling via decision.
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Oliveira vs. Makhachev
Sterling vs. Dillashaw
Yan vs. O’Malley
Gamrot vs. Dariush
Fiorot vs. Chookagian
The Prelims
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