Aljamain Sterling Considered Retiring If He Lost At UFC 300 | The MMA Hour

Former bantamweight champion Al Jamaine Sterling, aka Funk Master, who had a very dominant victory over Calvin Kar, is kind enough to join us right now. Wow, it was an earthquake that looked like an earthquake like the one we had in New York. Everything shook, no, no, earthquake. Yeah, thanks for doing this Al Joo, congratulations on the win, thanks, I appreciate it. Okay, so how do we feel? How do we feel about what we just accomplished? There was a lot of talk about your future after what happened in August. Take some time. you move up on a huge card, huge opportunity, uh, I thought it was really cool that the UFC put you on the card, you know, that felt like a vote of confidence, how does it feel to be a part of this whole week and then the whole of work?

On Saturday, well, I was happy to be a part of everything, it was a very good weekend, you know, good week, good experience with the fans and everything was a little different because I stayed at home the whole time and I think It was a little different from the typical fight week where we stay at the hotel, then I fight and drive back to my house that same night and then end up leaving, so it was a little strange in that regard, but the whole thing The experience, the card, the preparation, the preparation, everything, the excitement, the anxiety I had, it was a lot to take in and, fortunately, things went well, we did a good job and it showed on the night.

Well, two follow-ups to that number one is that the first time you stayed home and fought and then you came home, even on the East Coast or whatever, you'd never done that before, you'd never done that before, okay. , so that's it. obviously unique and then the anxiety, the excitement, all of that more than even title fights, yeah you know what it is, I like 35. I know what I was already capable of and I knew I could compete. This was like the great unknown. I didn't know. if he was big enough, a new challenger, a dangerous guy, uh, I mean, you look at some of the guys and Calvin CER's breakout roles, you see what he's done, um, I mean, even with the Max fight Holloway, he did some good things.

That fight, although it was about as one-sided as it gets in a stand-up thing, but he did some good things in that job, some good things against Chad Josh EMT, uh Dan, he's bought a lot of good guys, Andre Fely, Shane Bergos, so There was a lot of concern about my health before this fight. I thought, I don't know, man, if I can't take him down, this might be a rough night at the office and I'll probably have to take a trip. to the hospital, what did you do to increase your volume? Because you're usually so focused on cutting here that you had to get up a little bit, right?

You didn't have to cut that much, you definitely looked bigger out there you had to transform your body it was that difficult no, I didn't do anything. My walking weight is exactly the same walking weight, 135 wow, uh, I lifted a little more, um, but I told the team that I didn't want to get bigger, I thought my weight was already good in the sense of what everyone others were walking and um, based on all the statistics they showed me for the average weight of the typical UFC fighter. in the featherweight division I thought, "Okay, clearly, I don't need to gain weight.

I just need to increase my numbers in some of these speed and power departments and things like that, and that's what we worked on." like when I saw you in those um, you know, before the press conference, the photos were taken with all the other champions, former champions, current champions and all that did you like, what did it feel like for you, were you proud of that? ? You are, you are among the greats here and I know that sometimes you may not have felt the love, but you like to be part of those that you know, Legends, and that they shower you with praise and recognize you like that.

Allow yourself to enjoy everything while also preparing for the fight oh 100% I thought that was probably one of the coolest things. I had R Longo take a photo of everyone together too while they were taking that photo. It's just a historic event there, it's never been done before, to have so many champions and former champions on a card at the same time in the same building, so to be a part of that I thought was cool, unique and I hoped you'd know that. I'm going to do my best to be one of those champions, those former champions to win on that historic night and fortunately, you know, I'm very happy that everything turned out well, but it was kind of surreal to see, just look around like was a man.

There are a lot of tough guys in this room right now and uh, having my name come up with that hat, uh, I think there was a lot to say about that and whether or not people liked my championship reign or not, um, ya You know, not all. The fight is RNG, it's a finish and sometimes it's just the way a close fight goes, it's exactly that, it's a close fight, how would you say your confidence level was going into this because you're not just moving towards the new and unknown? weight class, but you're coming off the loss to Ali and it had been so long since you suffered a loss and so how do you feel about yourself going into the fight?

I felt good, the only thing I was trying to figure out, can I still compete with these guys and if I could compete at 145 like 35? I know I could compete. Yes, I'm one of the bigger guys in that weight class, but I've always made the weight, especially if you hit me. The moment I do it I can reach the weight. I wasn't always this big. I grew as the years went by. I think it was in my fight with Pedro Muñoz where I really started to notice the change in my weight and between camps. where I was as a man, this weight cut is not as easy as it used to be or I mean, it was never easy, but not as easy to overcome, if that makes sense, put it somehow. of perspective, um, level of confidence.

I think it was pretty good until I got to the back room. The day of the backroom fight is when I really started to doubt a lot of everything else, like I had doubts that this isn't working. go well, I don't know where I go from here, do I keep fighting or do I just quit, um, and I know those are real thoughts that I had because at the end of the day I thought that I'm not just trying to cash the check, there are so many guys that are They are left alone to do that.

I respect them, but I'm here to be number one, man. No, I'm not here just to be second. play the violin unless it's like it was so I liked a really good teammate or something and I knew my shot was going to come, that's a completely different argument, right, it's a completely different case, but if it's that I'm going to be in the place, then I made enough money I think I've made enough with my career I'm fine. It's probably time to find a new job. That's how I see things. If you know, if you're not the first, you're the last.

Well then do you really think that if you hadn't won on Saturday you could have left, it depends on how it would have happened. I think if Calvin Ker had completely kicked my ass, he probably would have finished, wow, and no one, no. one knew about it I didn't I didn't share those feelings with anyone um even your fiancé one of those interns even my fiancé is just one of those things I just don't do it I mean I mentioned it to her like well if I can't beat him , I don't know, but I didn't really go into detail about what that really meant, I just said it like okay, we'll see what happens.

I do not know what is going to happen. You know, that's nice. The way I kept it up with everyone and my inner thoughts were this guy is good, but if I say be who I think I am and who I want to be, man, I feel like I should be able to beat a guy like that and if I can't, then , how can I expect to beat a guy who is sitting atop the throne right now? I was curious about the awakening because sometimes we see guys like when you add the 10 pounds. It still ends up being hard because your body is like, oh yeah, in the past it was those extra 10 pounds, but now you're like, okay, maybe I can take my foot off the gas.

I don't have to diet. so much, etc., it was, you know, very easy or actually it was still difficult because it is never a normal thing to lose weight. It was definitely very difficult. I think on Saturday I weighed 160 three wow um so I still had to cut. a pretty good amount of weight, it's not easy man, I'm, I'm big, I'm a big guy in general, no, I'm not saying I'm like I'm a huge human being, I'm 5 foot seven but I'm very skinny, no I have a lot of body fat, so losing weight is always difficult for me.

I think if people watch my Vlog on my YouTube channel, they'll see that I still struggled a little bit. I cut two pounds on the day of the fight, not the day before the fight, which was Friday, so on Friday, the day of the weigh-ins, I cut two pounds and the day before I cut about three, so it wasn't so bad. bad, but it was definitely still a challenge, it was still difficult and I still felt it and it actually surprised me. I thought I was going to be able to get through it a little easier, but there were parts of it where I thought I was done.

Cutting weight like this there's just so many other things I'd rather be doing right now and I'm like, okay, think about the end goal, the end goal, we win this fight, we get paid, we bounce back, we get paid regardless, but we win this. . fight, we get paid double and we win this fight, we have a chance to possibly put our name back in the conversation for a title again, so it's all about perspective, what's your why, um, and I stand by it, man Really, I don't. Like some of these guys, they try to make it a show by pretending like, oh, I'm so bulletproof.

This and like yeah, we all have these thoughts that go through our heads, it's like I'm still doing it here. I got over it. I have a couple million in the bank. Why do I keep doing this? You know what I mean. Then these thoughts happen. They are normal. But I love competing and I think that's what drives me to want to keep going and, um, try to do it. Achieve bigger and bigger things. I thought it was kind of ironic that you felt like you were being applauded and loved and now that you're not Champion I felt like the fans are now showing you respect and love.

Did you notice that too? and how do you feel about that? Yes, I noticed it. I was a little indifferent. I'm just saying this is cool, but you guys hated me. When? I am so confused. I understand. I mean, they kneed me. in my head people thought I was acting I wasn't acting I was actually hurt I was actually awake um I wrote wrong and I still get booed for winning a hand-to-hand fight during a war between Russia and Ukraine on American soil by Americans. like I don't even understand I'm like I'm in America or I'm in Russia right now when I go get Bo Bo for a fight with peion um the TJ D fight was kinda weird when Henry Cudo somehow he I had more alcohol and more applause than I did, which was very telling, and of course the fight with Mal is more of a fan favorite, so I understand that one, but it was great to get back to what it used to be like when I fought with Saint Haen.

Some of the other guys, uh, I think the fans appreciated me a little more and I think that's why you know, I'm not saying this to SL, the fans at all, but that's why a lot of the foreign wrestlers don't. they do it. I don't see this kind of thing when they go abroad and fight, their whole country is behind them. You know, it's always good to see that and I wish we had a little more of that, even if you don't. they like the fighting style, I just think they don't like the fighting style, they still support theirs and that's the way they do things in other countries, we Americans just don't care, I guess I don't know when.

Did you start to feel like it was okay? I am the man. I'm going to dominate this guy because you said you were a bit. You know there were some thoughts in the locker room. Will I be big enough? Etc., but clearly it wasn't like that. a problem and you were clearly big and strong enough to overcome and dominate it. How early in the fight did you start to feel good? I'm, I'm fine, this is going to be fine, I think after the first round. I started to start getting into that rhythm. I thought, "Okay, maybe I'm a little rusty about him being fired.

I thought, don't get cocky, don't get it." Don't get carried away with your concentration, you still have to do it. having tunnel vision still has to be dialed in and not let him get back into the fight and then I think after that first round I had the confidence like oh I really belong here, this is where I should have been the whole time and the difference of speed was evident strength felt evident um height was non-existent like the height difference was non-existent he had a one inch reach advantage over me which was non-existent I think I used my reach quite a bit better effectively, I mean I hit him in feet and just, you know, like I said, this is a guy that had me really scared, you know, and to go out and do what I did, I think it shows a lot and it was like that.

It's not like I ate the victory. I dominated from start to finish and I understand it wasn't the craziest ground slam, but it takes two to tango if he's not trying to give a position so he can't finish, what am I supposed to do? I mean Max Holloway didn't evenI don't know, can I ask you? opinion when you saw the last 10 seconds between Max and Justin what are you thinking about that what do you feel about it two days later I was like Justin go to the other side turn around I like Justin don't go downtown, Whatever you do, don't go downtown now, but, man, that was crazy.

I thought Max was winning the fight and for him to even say “out,” UFC 300, come on, and doing that is a lot of risk. a guy who knocks hard like a door and for him to get the better of that exchange was very unexpected. I said in my crisis that I felt Holloway would have the speed advantage but the guy that hits like the truck will be gatei and the volume was going to be on Holloway's advantageous side and when he came down he dove and ripped the body a couple of times , I mean they went two or three times and he said po po po and then he came with the overhand.

Just above Gate's guard, his hand was with both hands down, he was preparing to throw a clean shot right on the chin and that was so beautiful as a right hand could land tight in the pocket like that and unfortunately , Gatei had to do it. Eat, eat that and that's the game, man, that the photos of that were just those, they'll be some legendary and iconic photos, like me, I know what it feels like to be that guy upside down, so that sucks, you know, Hopefully Gatei is okay. Now, but I'm a fan of both guys, but that was cool.

Hopefully Max stays at 155, yeah, no, we don't want you to come back here. Do you think he beats Ilia? I think it's a very convincing fight I think Max's footwork is what makes him a tough opponent um styles make fights Max has a great chin that he can break uh but the thing is that ilot no ilot just takes you down and this is just my assessment he takes you down to get close enough to the cage and then he drops that combination and takes the guys out. The question is whether or not he could do that to Max.

Max will sit there and try to trade with him against the cage where? Ilot does the best job of him and I think that's the interesting dynamic of that fight to see which direction it goes. I think it's a very compelling fight. Don't know. It's hard for me to say because I think so. OT is smart, if Striking doesn't work, go and take down Max Hollow, use that Elite level grappling and that could be the difference in the fight, how soon do you want to come back? I think September and October would be fine, but it really really depends on the next fights that the UFC does and when IL will be able to fight and defend his belt against either of the two, if Vul will take longer or if it will be against Max at 145 and more or less. figure it out or it's going to be against Ortega, you know, there's a lot of possibilities because if I'm Max it's like, well, I just beat the next guy at 155, why am I going to cut that extra weight when I write?

I jumped the line and showed that he should be the next guy, a lot of guys want to see Max fight, right? I can see him being next after Dustin mhm um I'm just curious. Before I let you go, I saw you and others. I think it was Wednesday, I took pictures with the NBA trophy, the Larry O'Brien, oh yeah, hey, how cool was he, how heavy is he and B, what was that for? It was just a promotional thing for ESPN and ABC, yeah, no I don't know what they were actually promoting, but I thought it was cool, that trophy was really heavy, I think it said it was 30 pounds, but we did some cool promotional stuff, they made me do something, like I had something of mine. little Funk Master Twist on some things and we had a little fun with it and it was easier because I wasn't cutting as much weight, where normally that Wednesday I was exhausted and wouldn't want to do any of that, but eh.

It was a great and unique experience. I was able to share my NBA dreams. Once upon a time I thought I was going to be in the NBA. So this was close enough. It looked good on you. You looked. You look better with the trophy than you do. trying to take my photo of Kobe Bryant, trying to do a new version of that, yeah, when I was sitting in the chair in the locker room, it was a cool shot, I thought for a second that you were going to move the front for the fight. too, but clearly that was right before I saw, I wanted to do it, but I already bought the green hair and I committed to it and I thought I was going to go back to Riddler because everyone was like, oh, he dyed his hair green, so that's why. he

lost

, I was like you, I

lost

because I made a stupid mistake and I like green, it feels like the Riddler, so I want to go out and do that, so I have to do a couple things for this fight.

UFC 300 I had to do my second song I had to go to I thought it was yeah, I don't know if the people in the arena realized it was actually my song so it was cool that we didn't have me singing. That's singing, you don't want to hear me sing, the song is called Killshot, although it's on all the streaming platforms, so we have to do those two things and obviously go up to 145 and do a couple more cool things, so I'm just grateful man, this life is crazy see where I am now I'm 34 years old and I still have a couple more good fights in the tank.

Fortunately, those retirement talks are no longer valid and he might not make it. I'm not saying rest, but I can breathe now that I had the first one to get off to a good start and I have to show the world that I can compete in this weight class and that I can also be very dominant in this weight class. Now it's finally past August, you feel like it's like now that you got a victory, you can finally move on. I wanted to move on, but people keep asking me about it and then, and then, no, no, no, no, no, no, you per se. but I'm just saying in general people and then when I give you a valid explanation I'm like guys I never lie to you fans I don't lie to the fans you know what I mean I tell you straight up how I do it .

I feel like if I felt something different, I'll tell you straight how it is and it's like people don't like to hear the truth, yeah, excuses are excuses, they all suck, no matter what it doesn't mean it's not valid, again. I've said several times that the best guy that night won. I just think the guy who fought last night is the guy who should have been there in August, but it is what it is. Now I'm pursuing new opposition, new goals. and I hope, I hope, man, before it's all said and done, if I can become a two-division champion, my life is completely fine, that means it's fine, but they didn't do it.

My athletic career is complete. I love the background because of the way the Von Erics represent Ed. I didn't know that you were a von Eric fan because they gave me an invitation to the premiere of the movie to meet a couple from the iron CLA and then uh I think Sonic is very strategically placed around there I like that uh well done wait um great stuff aljo very happy for you congratulations on a great victory a new chapter because you can't wait to see how it plays out I appreciate you coming as always and saying uh you recap is your youtube channel ready now weekly clips uh actually we're doing an episode today okay okay okay for the weekend so go watch that thanks buddy I appreciate it, thanks guys, I appreciate it, there it is, this is the master of funk Alaine Sterling.

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