Aljamain Sterling Gets His Wish; Set to Face TJ Dillashaw Next in September at UFC 279

Posted on by Jim Smarts

Aljamain Sterling stamped his authority on the bantamweight division with a win over Petr Yan at UFC 273. ‘Funkmaster’ won the belt the first time he faced ‘No Mercy’ at UFC 259. However, Petr Yan’s infamous knee to Sterling, while he was grounded cost him his title as he was disqualified. 

The promotion immediately tried to book a rematch between the two men, which did not happen as ‘Funkmaster’ opted to undergo surgery for his back, which had been plaguing him with issues for a long time. The surgery meant that Sterling would be out for a long period of time during which the UFC set up an interim title fight between Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan. Upon his return, Sterling was booked for a rematch against Petr Yan. And as he said he would, ‘Funkmaster’ secured the win by displaying his superior grappling and wrestling skills. 

After the win, Sterling called out TJ Dillashaw to be his first title defense. The former bantamweight champion was in attendance for UFC 273 and witnessed firsthand Sterling’s impressive performance. Recent reports suggest that a title fight between the two is close to being finalized for UFC 279 in September. ‘Funkmaster’ replied to the announcement of the fight saying, “It depends if Henry steps up to the plate or not. Where you at, you little munchkin?!” 

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A closer look at TJ Dillashaw vs Aljamain Sterling 

TJ Dillashaw is a bona fide great in the UFC’s bantamweight division, he has wins over some of the biggest names in the weight class. After his two-year suspension, he came back to secure an impressive win over Cory Sandhagen despite suffering a serious knee injury within the first two rounds of the fight. 

Aljamain Sterling

Going into the fight, the defending champion with have a four-inch reach advantage over his counterpart. Arguably, Dillashaw is the better striker of the two which is why Sterling will look to get the fight on the ground as soon as possible. But that will be easier said that done given Dillashaw’s wrestling background and the fact that he has a 86% takedown defense rate.