Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling (born July 31, 1989) is an American professional mixed martial artist.

He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) where he is the former UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Sterling is the first UFC champion to win a title by disqualification.

He also competed for Cage Fury Fighting Championship, where he is the former Cage Fury Fighting Championship Bantamweight Champion.

Sterling holds the UFC bantamweight division records for most wins, most consecutive wins, and most consecutive title defenses.

As of February 20, 2024, he is #2 in UFC bantamweight rankings and #15 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.

Sterling was born in 1989 in Uniondale, New York to Jamaican parents, Cleveland and Sophia Sterling.

He grew up with seven full siblings and at least 12 half-siblings.

To stay away from the prevalent gang life in which some of his brothers joined, Sterling started wrestling at Uniondale High School in 2004.

Unable to catch up with the grades to reach Division I, Sterling opted to enroll at Morrisville State College where he continued wrestling.

During the time in Morrisville, Sterling developed an interest in MMA when he met Jon Jones and trained on the wrestling team.

After his freshman year, Sterling transferred to Cortland and eventually became a two-time NCAA Division III All-American with a record of 87–27.

Sterling graduated from Cortland with a bachelor's degree in physical education.

Sterling started his amateur career in 2009 with a submission win.

Prior to turning pro Sterling compiled a 6-1 amateur record with the lone loss coming by way of split decision, he would eventually avenge this loss.

Sterling captured the Raging Wolf amateur Bantamweight Championship and Extreme FC amateur Featherweight Championship along the way.

Sterling started his professional career 2–0, before earning a shot at the ROC Bantamweight Championship.

He would go on to defeat Claudio Ledesma by split decision to capture the title.

Although this would turn out to be his last bout under the Ring of Combat organization, as he would later sign with Cage Fury Fighting Championships.

Sterling made his CFFC debut in a Featherweight bout against Evan Chmieleski.

He won the fight by TKO with just two seconds left in the first round.

This victory earned him a shot at the vacant CFFC Bantamweight Championship.

Sterling defeated Sean Santella via unanimous decision to capture his second professional title.

He would go on to defend the CFFC Bantamweight Championship on three occasions.

Sterling finished all three of his title defenses by rear naked choke, which earned him the opportunity to compete in the UFC.

Sterling was scheduled to make his UFC debut at UFC 170 against Lucas Martins, replacing an injured Bryan Caraway.

However Martins was eventually injured as well and replaced by fellow UFC newcomer Cody Gibson.

Sterling won the fight via unanimous decision.

Sterling made his second UFC appearance on July 16, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 45 against Hugo Viana.

After controlling the majority of the fight Sterling landed a barrage of punches from the mount position causing the referee to wave off the fight late in the third round.

Sterling was expected to face Mitch Gagnon at UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Saffiedine on October 4, 2014.

However, Sterling pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Rob Font.

Following a quick recovery, Sterling was promptly rebooked and was expected to face Frankie Saenz on November 8, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 55.

However, Saenz was forced to withdraw from the bout and in turn promotional newcomer Michael Imperato was briefly linked as a replacement.

After years of absence from wrestling competition, Sterling wrestled and grappled two-time NCAA DI wrestling All-American and sophomore from Penn State Roman Bravo-Young, on December 22, 2020, at the NLWC IV.

The rules consisted of six minutes of freestyle wrestling and three minutes of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Sterling was defeated by points in the first match 6-4 but tapped out Bravo-Young in the second one.

Sterling's nickname “The Funk Master” comes from his unorthodox wrestling style.

While studying in Cortland, Sterling was invited by Jones to try out mixed martial arts at his gym of that time, The BombSquad in Ithaca, New York.

A few fights into his professional career, Sterling left The BombSquad and started training at Serra-Longo Fight Team.