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UFC not snubbing Aljamain Sterling with Fight Pass bout against Bryan Caraway

Bantamweight eyes championship bout with one or two more victories

Aljamain Sterling

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Takeya Mizugaki, left, fights against Aljamain Sterling, right, during a UFC mixed martial arts bout, Saturday, April 18, 2015, in Newark, N.J.

The highest-ranked fighter competing at UFC Fight Night 88 will enter the octagon before 4 p.m. Sunday at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Undefeated bantamweight prospects Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt headline the Fox Sports 1-televised card, but it’s another unbeaten fighter in their division who’s closing in on a title shot. Aljamain Sterling, No. 4 in the UFC’s official rankings, will fight five hours before No. 7 Almeida and unranked Garbrandt when he faces Bryan Caraway in a preliminary bout airing exclusively online through UFC Fight Pass.

“I’m not going to lie, I was pretty upset about it at first,’” Sterling said. “I was like, ‘I can’t catch a break.’ ... But they explained everything, broke it down. I got on the phone with the president of Fight Pass, and he explained the vision, explained the ideas and everything behind it.”

The placement is no indignity against Sterling; it’s just another example of the emphasis the UFC is putting on its streaming service. The UFC has already slotted many fan-favorite veterans on Fight Pass this year including the man Sterling considers the greatest fighter of all-time, Anderson Silva.

So, in that regard, it’s an honor. Sterling constitutes the latest strategy the UFC is using to sell a product it’s labeled as important to the future of the company.

“The good thing is, you get to fight early, get to relax early,” Sterling said. “I can get my drinks in and hang out with my friends and family. I get to unwind a little bit. But I definitely do think I want to be prepped for that limelight so I think after this I should be ready for the main card, co-main event, something of that magnitude.”

That’s the type of status Sterling felt he was guaranteed after resigning with the UFC earlier this year. He declined an extension late last year going into a bout with Johnny Eduardo at UFC Fight Night 80, which he won by submission for his third straight finish, and decided to become a free agent.

The holdout resulted in a better offer with more promises that he thought no other mixed martial arts league outside of the UFC could assert.

“I’m going to have my time to shine,” Sterling said.

And, depending on how everything plays out, that moment could come in the next few months. If Sterling defeats Caraway impressively, he’s entertained the idea of calling out the winner of the impending bantamweight championship bout between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

The longtime 135-pound rivals meet in the co-main event of UFC 199 next Saturday in Los Angeles.

“I’m definitely going to be in attendance for Cruz vs. Faber III,” Sterling said. “Faber is looking good right now. I’ve seen him hitting pads. I think he’s looking pretty lean, pretty cut up. I just don’t know if it’s going to be enough. I don’t know if he can change up his game enough to beat Cruz.”

Sterling would also consider fighting the winner of a UFC 200 matchup between former champion T.J. Dillashaw and Raphael Assuncao in his next bout. The one option he doesn’t see himself pursuing if he defeats Caraway is meeting the winner of Almeida and Garbrandt.

Sterling sees the comparative stakes of his fight as an inverse to where it’s billed.

“We are the higher-ranked fighters on this card, and whoever wins this fight, should be the guy next in line or one of the guys who is one step closer to being the next guy in line,” he said.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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