Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Bantamweights

4. Aljamain Sterling

The current bantamweight king comes in at fourth place. This list was assembled prior to Sterling's demolition of T.J. Dillashaw, whon we will see further on, so perhaps he would be even higher now. Regardless, Sterling is one of the most amazing and unique fighters in the history of MMA. While I mentioned that Yan is my favorite fighter nowadays, Sterling is definitely in my top 10 as well. Not only does he have one of the greatest grappling combinations of wrestling and submissions in the sport's history, one that is right up there with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he has highly unorthodox but wildly effective muay thai-based striking that has also felled many excellent foes. It took Sterling some time to perfect his style. He began his career a perfect 12-0, including 4-0 in the UFC, with submissions of Takeya Mizugaki and Johnny Eduardo, and a decision over Cody Gibson. However, the then 26 year-old Sterling ran into trouble then, dropping a split decision to Bryan Caraway that many also scored a draw, but practically no one had for Sterling. He would then lose a second straight split decision, this time to top contender Raphael Assuncao, which also went to the right man. After decisions over Augusto Mendes and a floundering Renan Barao, whom we will also see later on this list, Sterling was stopped by Marlon Moraes in highlight-reel fashion in just over a minute.

This, however, is where Sterling became an all-time great, winning his next 8 fights in a row over outstanding opposition. That includes a dominating decision over excellent grappler Brett Johns, a second round finish of Cody Stamann with one of the best kneebars in MMA history, one-sided beatings of top contenders and great strikers in Jimmie Rivera and Pedro Munhoz, and a 90-second submission of Cory Sandhagen, the same fighter I had praised so heavily underneath Petr Yan's entry, a match where Sandhagen was seen as even money. Finally, Sterling got his title shot. This was the most anticipated fight of the year for me, and for almost four full rounds, it matched my hype, before ending by a disappointing disqualification due to an illegal Yan knee, though Sterling was crowned champion. Nevertheless, I don't blame Sterling for saying he was unable to continue; his goal was to win the bantamweight crown, and this would allow him to do so. I would have done the same in his shoes. (I only wish, again, for the sake of hilarity, that Anthony Smith had claimed the same against Jon Jones, winning the light heavyweight championship and handing Jones his second DQ loss) Sterling proved all the doubters wrong in the rematch against Yan, one in which he was a heavy underdog, fighting on even terms with the superlative Russian, and garnering the split decision. For whatever reason, Sterling at the height of his powers was a fairly modest favorite in his most recent fight, facing an obviously past his prime, 36 year-old TJ Dillashaw. Sterling did what I expected, and beat the stuffing out of the former champion before the match was mercifully waived off halfway through the second round. At 33 years old, Sterling still has plenty of time to add to his already immense legend and move up the list.

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