Aljamain Sterling isn’t quite sure why he’s fighting a five-round fight for three-round money.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Sterling faces Brian Ortega in a 145-pound battle in Shanghai, China this Saturday — with the fight filling the co-main event slot underneath the headliner between home country fighter Zhang Mingyang and Brazil’s Johnny Walker.
In what is becoming an increasing trend in the UFC ranks, the Sterling-Ortega fight will take place across five-rounds rather than the regular three most often reserved for non-title or non-main event fights — but sometimes used to give fighters more time to work in what are usually pivotal bouts for position within a weight category.
However, as far as Sterling is concerned the additional two rounds serves no purpose — especially if he is not being compensated for the additional work.
“Yeah, I don’t know why it’s five rounds,” Sterling said, in comments delivered to MMA Fighting. “I don’t know if Brian Ortega is the one who asked for five rounds. But like, five-round main events, if you’re not the champion, you get an extra pay incentive. So I’m kind of annoyed because we’re not getting extra pay for five rounds.
“I’m like, ‘Did he want to fight five rounds for no extra money?’ I think it’s kind of f*cking stupid. Like, what are we getting out of this? We’re not getting a trophy at the end of this, so why are we fighting five rounds? This is 10 extra minutes of training, 10 extra minutes of fighting. I don’t know. I legitimately do not know. We’ve got the same manager, so. I don’t want 5 rounds. Like, who wants to do five rounds? Who wants to fight more for the same pay rate that they’re going to get? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Sterling is 1-1 so far in his new home at 145-pounds. He soundly defeated Calvin Kattar in his featherweight debut back in April 2024 before losing a close decision to the undefeated Mosvar Evloev in December. But he admits the T&Cs of this particular bout grind a little more than the last.
“I mean, the fight’s gonna happen regardless, right? But it just would be nice to be compensated to do the extra,” he explained. “This is outside of the ordinary scope, so it’s like, ‘Whoa, no co-main event is five rounds unless they’re getting paid. So I don’t know. It’s a little weird. I am a little annoyed by that. I know some people are going to take that headline and clip it, ‘Aljo was just frustrated with the UFC.’ It’s not even that. Make it makes sense.”
All that said, the New Yorker recognises the importance of Saturday’s fight.
“I don’t want to say this is a make it or break it fight for me, but I’m not interested in fighting up and coming contenders just for a paycheck. Maybe I will consider that at some point, but I don’t have that mentality right now. That’s not what I’m looking to do. That doesn’t get me up in the morning and make me want to go train to fight these young 22-year-olds, 23-year-olds who don’t have a name. They’re trying to make the name off of me, they’re trying to make their name off of Ortega.
“I would like to fight for another title, God willing, [if] I get a big win. It’s going to be hard to top a spinning-back elbow, but we are fighting five rounds. I’m hoping that’s some type of direction of what things might come from this. So I’m just trying to be positive about the whole thing and may the best man win. At the end of the day, if I’m not good enough, then I’m not good enough at this point, and I think maybe it could be due to the size, it could be due to the age. It could be due to so many different things.”
