After his win at UFC Shanghai, what’s next for Aljamain Sterling?

This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Shanghai, we saw a five-round catchweight matchup between two top featherweight contenders. Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (25-5) took on Brian Ortega (16-5).

This fight was supposed to be a featherweight matchup but due to weight issues with Ortega, the fight was moved to a catchweight fight. Brian Ortega looked awful during weigh-ins and I was already confident in my Sterling pick prior to the weight issue.

If we are really stepping back and analyzing the performances, Brian Ortega was never in this fight. It didn’t even feel like Sterling had to press his foot on the gas very hard in this fight and he was just touching up Ortega throughout the five rounds.

Ortega had a couple of moments near the end, but this was about as one-sided as it gets with Sterling winning every round on the judges scorecards at UFC Shanghai.

What’s next after UFC Shanghai?

After the fight was over, Sterling called for a fight with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Unfortunately for Sterling, that’s just not going to happen. Yes, Sterling is a former bantamweight champion and yes, he did just beat a former two-time featherweight title challenger.

However, he’s behind a couple of fighters in the pecking order including Movsar Evloev who he just lost to back in December. With that, who should the UFC pair with Sterling after this performance. I think there are a couple of options.

One option I would like to see is a fight with Yair Rodriguez. Rodriguez was campaigning for a title shot that never made logistical sense considering he’s 1-2 in his last three fights. He needs another win and a fight with Sterling could provide him that or provide Aljo with a legit case for a title shot.

Lerone Murphy is going to get the next title shot leaving Movsar Evloev with no one to fight. Noche UFC is coming up with Jean Silva and Diego Lopes fighting in the main event. After that fight is settled, I think the promotion pairs up the winner along with Evloev, Rodriguez, and Sterling in some order.

Since he has already fought Evloev, I’ll say that Sterling either fights Yair Rodriguez or the winner of Silva – Lopes next.