The bantamweight division has carved a reputation as one of the most talent-rich weight classes, with some of the toughest unranked pools, in the sport. Very rarely does a fighter, no matter how talented, make a fast rise into title contention at 135 pounds, and for Sterling, it took about five years to do just that.
The New York native got his UFC account to a bright start with a trio of finishes in his first three fights, but split decision losses to Bryan Caraway and Rafael Assunção stymied his momentum. He would bounce back with a pair of wins, but once again hit a speed bump in the form of a knockout loss to Marlon Moraes in December 2017. That result would prove pivotal for Sterling, and he would win his next four fights in the next two years to put him in a title-eliminator bout against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250. Instead of the fascinating stylistic clash most anticipated, Sterling loudly distinguished himself as the next man in line for the belt as he submitted Sandhagen less than 90 seconds into their fight.
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This led Sterling into his first bout with then-champion Petr Yan at UFC 259. Through three rounds, the fight was close, with two judges scoring the bout 29-28 for Yan while one had it 29-28 in favor of Sterling, but an illegal knee from “No Mercy” in the fourth round prompted a disqualification. In turn, Sterling secured the title. Oddly enough, it seemed more criticism was levied at the man who won the belt than the one who ended the fight with an illegal strike. They would do the dance again more than a year later at UFC 273, and this time, Sterling fought with a point to prove. The back-and-forth affair was razor-close, but Sterling did enough to defend his title via split decision.