Aljamain Sterling Calls Out Jimmie Rivera: ‘I Don’t See Where He Wins’
Aljamain Sterling entered the UFC Octagon for the first time in February 2014 as an undefeated fighter (8-0). He won his first four fights with the organization, improving his record to 12-0 before dropping two razor-close split decisions to Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao. He rebounded with back-to-back wins and wants his next bout to be a fight that will get him into title contention.
No. 7 ranked Sterling called out No. 3 ranked Jimmie Rivera on Thursday during an appearance on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. The two have a bit of history dating back to their early careers.
“I want Jimmie Rivera. I think that’s the proper fight. He’s talked a lot of (expletive) to me coming up on the regional scene, talking about my striking and that I’m not very good, overrated,” Sterling told UFC Unfiltered. “He started with striking. I started with wrestling. I had to learn. Now that I”m here, I”m like, let’s go. Let’s see who can back up the talk now.”
The 28-year-old New Yorker would like to avenge his split decision losses to Caraway and Assuncao, but has his eye on the bigger picture.
“(Rivera) is the fight I definitely want,” he said. “I definitely, in terms of title fight implications, that’s the fight I want.”
This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com
