Is “The Funk Master” fighting for his UFC future?

Having previously held an undefeated professional MMA record of 12-0, Aljamain “The Funk Master” Sterling is now riding a two fight losing streak. Sterling will be looking to avoid making it three straight losses this Saturday as he takes on Augusto Mendes at UFC on Fox 24.

Sterling joined the UFC in early 2014 with a record of 8-0. He made his UFC debut against Cody Gibson at UFC 170 and picked up a Unanimous Decision victory. In his next contest, Sterling faced Hugo Viana at UFC Fight Night 45 and picked up a third round TKO victory. With this performance, Sterling was slowly starting to establish himself as a contender in the UFC’s Bantamweight division. His next two fights ended by way of submission as he was able to tap out experienced MMA veteran, Takeya Mizugaki and the well-rounded Brazilian, Johnny Eduardo. His submission victory over Eduardo was the last fight on his UFC contract at the time and Sterling teased he would test the free agency market. However, after tense negotiations, in February 2016, Sterling re-signed with the UFC and stated that his new contract was “a lot more lucrative than the original offer.”

On May 29^th 2016, Sterling returned to the UFC to take on Bryan Caraway at UFC Fight Night 88. On the night, Caraway was able to take advantage of the grappling exchanges and picked up a Split Decision win. This was the first loss on Sterling’s professional MMA record and many wondered how he would respond. In his next outing, “The Funk Master” fought top five ranked Bantamweight, Raphael Assuncao, at UFC on Fox 23 in January 2017. Once again, Sterling was just out edged by his opponent and lost his second straight fight via Split Decision.

Can Sterling get back in the win column?

Sterling will be looking to avoid making three defeats in a row this Saturday as he challenges Augusto Mendes in the headline fight on the prelim card of UFC on Fox 24. Mendes is coming off a Split Decision win over Frankie Saenz back at UFC Fight Night 103 in January 2017, and has only one loss on his professional MMA record (which was to current UFC Bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt). Can Sterling steer clear of the dreaded three fight losing streak or will Mendes pick up the biggest win of his career to date?