Aljamain
Sterling wants to fight Jean Silva
to determine the next challenger for
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight gold.

Silva submitted Jose
Delgado in the third round of the main event of
Noche UFC 4, then called for a shot at the winner of the
upcoming Alexander
Volkanovski vs. Movsar
Evloev championship bout set to headline
UFC 333. Sterling, however, believes Silva needs to go through
him if he wants a title shot.

Aljamain Sterling proposes December showdown with Jean Silva in
UFC featherweight title race

Sterling, who has won his last bouts, had initially suggested a
November matchup with Silva at Madison Square Garden. The former
bantamweight champ is also open to fighting “Lord†in December, so
the latter has ample time to heal and prepare.

“Even if it's a Fight Night, I don't give a f*ck,†Sterling said on
his YouTube channel. “December, run that sh*t. Run that sh*t. Run
that sh*t. All I'm saying is, I want to give him the fair
opportunity to heal, be ready, be the best version of himself, and
I would love to have that fight. I want to fight the fights that
make the most sense; the biggest names, the fights that get me
somewhere. Not just taking random fights just to say I fought this
guy. Bro, I don't give a f*ck. I'm 37. It's time to sh*t or get off
the pot.â€

Sterling also believes the timing works well for the division,
particularly with Volkanovski and Evloev scheduled to collide in
October.

“So, the most common-sense thing, in my personal opinion, is to let
us figure it out and see who wins,†Sterling added. “We both stay
busy, stay active and get a clear-cut No. 1 contender for the
title. I know they had the ‘Beware of Dog' signs, but I got
something for that. I like to think my style is the ultimate
equalizer. Just like they talk about power, I got something
else.â€

Sterling is coming off wins over Brian
Ortega and Youssef
Zalal. He's now 3-1 since moving up to the featherweight
division, with his lone defeat at 145 pounds coming in a Fight of
the Night against Evloev in 2024.

Julian Fernandez is unbeaten in the world of bare-knuckle boxing and has noticed key differences between his efforts in BKFC and his current BKB path. The former Mexican national boxing champion has made waves in gloveless combat as BKB's undefeated titleholder in the wake of debuting in the sport initially with BKFC.

Obviously the competitive spaces are different, but when asked for other noticeably divergent aspects there were to competing for the two powerhouse bare knuckle boxing companies, Fernandez said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker] (via interpreter work from BKB's Mel Valenzuela),

“When you're fighting for BKB, when you're going in there, you're going to fight. You're going to exchange, you're in the middle. In BKFC, the ring is bigger. There's more opportunity to run around and kind of dodge some of the fighting… He's saying it's a big challenge to fight at BKB, the three-minute rounds.â€

“He's saying that you must master the angles. He said that it can be to your advantage or if you don't know how to manage those angles, it can be to your detriment. So managing the angles, learning how to work with them, make them work for you, and the three-minute rounds make BKB more challenging and rewarding at the same time.â€

The BKB champ has several plans in his back pocket for a clash with a multi-division BKB champ on Saturday's card in Tijuana

Touching on the dynamics of collecting so much intel from Bare Knuckle Boxing's Mighty Trigon despite having a ledger loaded with quick first-round finishes, Fernandez stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker] (via interpreter work from Mel Valenzuela),

“By the grace of God, he's been able to finish his fights early but that he always prepares for six rounds for every fight. He's ready to go the distance and part of that is managing the angles. He's always got a plan A, plan B, and plan C, should they be needed. But that to this point, it's a testament to his preparation, the fact that he's not gone further than the first round.â€

When asked if the contender for his super cruiserweight title this weekend at BKB 59, Dan Podmore, can become the first man to encroach into the second stanza with him, Fernandez quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker] (via interpreter work from Mel Valenzuela),

“He doesn't know how well [Dan] Podmore is prepared for this and he sounds like he doesn't care. He knows that he's prepared. He prepares hard to finish the fight in the first round, but he can go six rounds if he has to. He doesn't like to give any prognostications, right? [laughs] He doesn't want to guess. All he knows is that he's prepared he comes out strong, goes for the knockout early, but is prepared to go six rounds.â€

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

---

Ilia
Topuria's brother, Aleksandre
Topuria, is reportedly set to return to action in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship later this year.

The 30-year-old bantamweight is in talks to face Santiago
Luna at UFC Qatar
on Nov. 21 in Doha, according to Ãlvaro Colmenero.

Aleksandre Topuria is in talks to face Santiago Luna at UFC
Qatar

Aleksandre (7-1) hasn't competed since defeating Bekzat
Almakhan by unanimous decision in November last year, which
marked his second UFC win. He hasn't been active in recent years,
primarily focusing on coaching his brother Ilia, the former
featherweight and lightweight champion.

With Ilia having recently lost the lightweight title to Justin
Gaethje at
UFC Freedom 250 and set to return only next year, Aleksandre
will look to pick up his third Octagon victory in November. His
opponent, Luna (8-1), is 2-1 in the UFC and is coming off the lone
defeat of his professional career, a submission loss to Bryce
Mitchell this past June.

The only other rumored bout for the event is a middleweight clash
between Ikram
Aliskerov and former title challenger Jared
Cannonier.

Algunos me habéis preguntado respecto a la
pelea entre Aleksandre
Topuria y Santiago
Luna, una info que ha dado @realkevink

Lo cierto es que SÃ que he escuchado acerca de esta pelea para
Qatar, pero no había podido confirmar que estuviera cerrada y
firmada

Ojalá que se dé 👌🻠pic.twitter.com/ziNMA72dwe

— Ãlvaro Colmenero (@KOlmeneroMMA)
September 15, 2026