Aljamain Sterling looks to snap Youssef Zalal's streak at UFC Fight Night

Collecting a second title has been all the rage in the UFC in recent years.

Ten different active or former champions since 2015 went on to win a second UFC title in a different division, and if Aljamain Sterling keeps winning in the featherweight division he could potentially be the next one to attempt to reach career double-champ status.

Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev each won a championship in a second weight class in 2025 with longtime strawweight champ Zhang Weili falling short in her attempt to also snag the women’s flyweight belt last year.

Sterling is a former men’s bantamweight champion who moved up to 145 pounds two years ago after his successful 135-pound run that ended with five consecutive title fights. He has been impressive in his new division and after just three fights is already the No. 5-ranked contender at featherweight.

The 36-year-old from Unionville, N.Y., will look to continue improving his standing in his new division this weekend when he headlines a UFC Fight Night card on Saturday against streaking No. 7 contender Youssef Zalal.

The five-round featherweight contest is scheduled to headline a 13-bout card at the Meta Apex with the winner expected to move within striking range of the popular reigning titleholder.

Alexander Volkanovski is riding high in his second stint as champion and coming off back-to-back dominant unanimous decision title defences over Diego Lopes.

Volkanovski still doesn’t have his next challenger lined up. Add that to the reality that the matchmaking within the weight class the past two years has at times been puzzling and you can expect the champ to keep a close eye on Saturday’s main event just in case.

The frontrunner for the next title shot is Movsar Evloev who’s 20-0 as a pro, 10-0 in the UFC, and beat Lerone Murphy in March to solidify himself as the No. 1-ranked contender at 145 pounds.

Evloev’s primary issue holding him back from a title shot, besides frequent injury layoffs, has been the fact all 10 of his UFC wins have been via decision -- not great considering UFC brass prioritizes entertainment value and highlight-reel finishes over merely wins and losses when awarding title shots. A clear example of this is the fact Lopes received each of the past two title shots despite the fact he has a previous loss to Evloev and that his first loss to Volkanovski was so one-sided.

Rather than pairing Volkanovski with a fresh, undefeated contender last year, the UFC matchmakers decided to award Lopes a second title shot within 10 months of his first and they had Evloev face fellow unbeaten contender Lerone Murphy instead. Evloev won the five-round contest in Murphy's home country of England.

The UFC has not officially confirmed Elvoev is next for Volkanovski, and history has proven plans change rapidly, so Sterling and Zalal have an opportunity to earn a statement finish and make the case they should leapfrog the rest of the pack.

Sterling has a unique fighting style with some of the most dominant and top and back control if he’s able to take the action down to the mat. He won nine consecutive bouts from 2018 to 2023 and accumulated wins over Cory Sandhagen plus champions Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo.

His run atop the 135-pound division was ended by Sean O’Malley in the summer of 2023, after which he decided to stop making the draining weight cut and chose to move up in weight.

Sterling is 2-1 since losing UFC gold. He debuted with a win over Calvin Kattar but lost a competitive, high-skill three-rounder to Evloev 16 months ago. Sterling swept the scorecards in his most recent appearance when he and submission ace Brian Ortega participated in a five-round co-main event in August.

A bicep tendon injury sustained in that win over Ortega resulted in a longer-than-usual layoff between fights. One way for Sterling to generate some buzz would be to snap Zalal’s impressive winning streak.

While Sterling continues settling into the next chapter of his UFC story up in a new division, Zalal is enjoying the second UFC stint of his professional career.

The 29-year-old from Morocco initially debuted in the UFC in 2020 at age 23. He started off 3-0 before running into Ilia Topuria and losing a decision. Zalal argues he has been Topuria’s toughest test to date (all three judges scored that contest two rounds to one for the current lightweight and former featherweight champion).

It was the beginning of a four-fight winless streak for Zalal, who parted ways with the UFC following a majority draw in 2022. After three consecutive stoppage wins in the Sparta Combat League in Colorado, Zalal was given a second opportunity in the UFC.

Zalal returned in 2024 and has gone 5-0 with four submission wins. He is coming off the most impressive victory of his career – a first-round armbar submission of Josh Emmett at UFC 320 this past October.

“I’m pretty sure (the UFC is) on the same page,” Volkanovski said back in March after Evloev topped Murphy. “They know I’ve wanted Movsar the whole time because he’s been No. 1 contender the whole time.

“I have fought other people to do the UFC a solid, but now I just feel like we’re taking the piss, and we’re going against what combat and martial arts has always been about. And that’s what I’ve always thought the UFC was about as well – where the best fight the best.”

Another featherweight contender being considered for a title shot is Jean Silva. The wild man from Brazil is currently sandwiched by Sterling and Zalal in the rankings at No. 6 after his January decision win over Arnold Allen.

Stirling is seven years older than Zalal with a significant experience and strength of schedule advantage. It’s Stirling’s third UFC main event since 2023 and Zalal’s first UFC headline spot.

Zalal opened as the listed underdog after the matchup was announced but began fight week as the betting favourite over Sterling. According to BetMGM, Zalal is a slight favourite sitting at around -140 a few days ahead of the event with Stirling a +120 underdog.

UNDERCARD OVERVIEW

Trio of elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists featured: BJJ black belts are littered across all UFC cards, however simply put not all black belts are created equal and Saturday’s event is a good example of that. There are more than three black belts on the card but three stand above the rest when it comes to grappling credentials.

Heavyweight Marcus Buchecha is a 13-time jiu-jitsu world champ and a fourth-degree black belt, but it hasn’t translated to success in the UFC. The 36-year-old lost his debut last July to Martin Buday and is coming off a draw with Kennedy Nzechukwo. He meets Ryan Spann to open Saturday’s main card. Spann’s past two wins have both been via submission, yet he has also been submitted three separate times during his career.

Middleweight Rodolfo Vieira is in the featured preliminary bout against Eric McConico as both fighters hope to bounce back from knockout losses. McConico was put away by Baisangur Susurkaev and Viera was slept by a Bo Nickal head kick on the same night back in mid-November. Vieira, 36, is 6-4 in the UFC with all but one of his wins by submission. Vieira was a four-time world BJJ champ before beginning MMA and was a seven-time Abu Dhabi gold medallist.

Strawweight Talita Alencar was a world champion in multiple disciplines. She was a world champion in gi tournaments and a multiple-time world and European no-gi champion, which has translated well to mixed martial arts. The 35-year-old is 3-1 in the UFC coming off a 2-0 campaign in 2025. Her most recent appearance was a submission win over Ariane Carnelossi in early November.

Updates to card: The UFC confirmed at the start of the week that one previously announced matchup was changed and a new bout was added to the prelims on short notice.

Flyweight Jafel Filho has a new opponent after Lucas Rocha was replaced by Cody Durden due to injury. A lightweight fight between Francis Marshall and Lucas Brennan was added. Marshall is 3-3 in the UFC and had a first-round submission win in February. Brennan is making his UFC debut after going 9-0 in Bellator MMA from 2019 to 2023. He went 2-0 in 2025 with two first-round submission wins on the regional scene in Texas.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal (subject to change):

Main card

-- Aljamain Sterling vs. Youssef Zalal

-- Norma Dumont vs. Joselyne Edwards

-- Rafa García vs. Alexander Hernandez

-- Davey Grant vs. Adrian Luna Martinetti

-- Montel Jackson vs. Raoni Barcelos

-- Marcus Buchecha vs. Ryan Spann

Preliminary card

-- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Eric McConico

-- Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Michelle Montague

-- Jackson McVey vs. Sedriques Dumas

-- Jafel Filho vs. Cody Durden

-- Francis Marshall vs. Lucas Brennan

-- Max Griffin vs. Victor Valenzuela

-- Talita Alencar vs. Julia Polastri