Top 5 featherweight contender accepts a fight with ex-champion Aljamain Sterling: ‘I like it’

If Aljamain Sterling can’t bag a fight with Brian Ortega, he can still score a scrap with the featherweight division’s No. 5 ranked contender.

The ‘Funk Master’ made his successful debut in the featherweight division at UFC 300, offering up what he believes was “the most dominant performance” of the landmark event against Calvin Kattar. The win thrust Sterling immediately into the division’s top 10, occupying the No. 8 spot.

Afterward, Sterling called for a fight with Ortega. However, if that doesn’t come to fruition, the former bantamweight champ thinks a showdown with undefeated Russian standout Movsar Evloev could be a “fun” one.

“I would rather the Ortega fight because I’m gunning for the belt, so if there’s a fight, and you’re giving me the option to pick, I’m going to pick the highest ranked guy,” Sterling said on The MMA Hour. “It’s not that the fight with Movsar wouldn’t be fun. I think two grapplers, the way we grapple, would have some very fun scrambles…I think when you have a style like mine and his, it could make for a fun fight, the same way Diego Lopes made it a fun fight” (h/t MMA Mania).

Unbeaten Featherweight Movsar Evloev Responds to the ‘Funk Master’

Responding to Sterling’s comment, Evloev commended the ex-champ’s bravery for seeking a fight against him — something few featherweight contenders are willing to do these days.

“@funkmasterMMA brave for you to talk about me. I like it! Call UFC and fight me. I’m ready,” Evloev wrote on X.

Evloev is a picture-perfect 18-0 in his mixed martial arts career with eight of those victories coming under the UFC banner. His most notable W’s have come against Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, and most recently, Arnold Allen.