Buried on UFC Fight Night 80’s undercard is a fantastic bantamweight affair pitting undefeated Aljamain Sterling against Brazilian Johnny Eduardo. It’s a classic prospect versus veteran encounter that has major implications for the men’s 135-pound division.
Sterling (11-0) cut his teeth in the New Jersey-based Cage Fury Fighting Championships promotion where he fought five times prior to making his UFC debut last year. In October 2011 he captured that organization’s bantamweight title and defended the belt three times before signing with the world’ biggest MMA organization. After defeating Cody Gibson and Hugo Viana in his first two UFC bouts, Sterling made a statement in his last fight by submitting Takeya Mizugaki this past April. Still boasting an unblemished record, the 26-year-old looks to take out another ranked fighter in 36-fight veteran Eduardo.
Eduardo (27-9) is a product of the prestigious Nova Uniao camp which boasts UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and former bantamweight king Renan Barao. After losing his UFC debut to Raphael Assuncao at UFC 134, Eduardo bounced back with a win over Jeff Curran and an impressive first round-knockout victory over Eddie Wineland. Despite only losing once in his last 14 fights, the biggest issue for the 37-year old has been his activity. Since 2012, Eduardo has only competed twice with his last Octagon appearance being the aforementioned win over Wineland in May 2014. If he wants to put the rest of the bantamweight division on notice, defeating a hungry up and comer like Sterling would certainly do that.
This matchup is a great test for both fighters to see exactly where they fit in the UFC’s 135-pound division. Physically, neither fighter has a significant height or reach advantage over the other. While Eduardo has 25 more fights under his belt than his younger adversary, Sterling has been far more active competing six times since 2012. Out of his 27 victories, Eduardo has won 13 by submission, but that’s a deceiving stat because out of his nine losses, seven of those have been by submission. In all likelihood this fight could end up going to the judges’ scorecards. Sterling has never been finished in his career, while Eduardo’s last loss by stoppage was way back in 2007 in Shooto Brazil.
Sterling and Eduardo aren’t household names which is one of the reasons why they were relegated to the undercard, but make no mistake about it this is an important matchup for the bantamweight division. In January, champion T.J. Dillashaw defends his title against Dominick Cruz. Uriah Faber also takes on Frankie Saenz at UFC 194. In all likelihood the winner of both of those matchups will face each other for the title, but the winner of Saturday night’s encounter won’t be far behind. No. 3-ranked Assuncao is still without an opponent (as he’s dealing with injuries) and Bryan Caraway and Thomas Almeida are likely a few fights from a potential title shot. The winner of Sterling-Eduardo will undoubtedly get a top flight opponent in their next bout, while the loser takes a step back in their career.
