by Jim Edwards

"I didn't fall out of love with the sport but I needed time to unwind and just smell the roses."

What a few months it has been for Aljamain Sterling. At the start of the year, he was riding high on the tip of the newcomer wave as an unbeaten 135-pound prospect who everyone said would eventually be the man to go on and dethrone the champion, Dominick Cruz.  

However, as every surfer knows, there are always bumps and wipeouts along the way to riding the perfect wave, and Sterling's first-ever wipeout came when he was defeated in May by Bryan Caraway. 

For the first time in his career, Sterling received mass criticism and he'd be the first to admit that the whole thing left a lingering somberness that he'd not experienced before.

Ask any pro-fighter or athlete and they will tell you that mental wounds are just as important to recover from as physical ones. Unfortunately for Sterling, after the Caraway fight, he had both to deal with. 

With a bicep injury and wounded pride to heal, Sterling took a step away from active competition and instead, focused himself on just having fun and connecting back to the people that mattered the most to him. 

Dealing with defeat

"It's been a good time for me man, time well spent," Sterling said. "When you just fight, fight, fight all the time, you lose yourself in that and your training. It just gets kinda draining.

"Being at International Fight Week was tiring but at the same time it was so reenergizing for me. Taking pictures, signing things, talking to people was tiring physically, but man, it was so much fun and it gave me a whole new perspective. I never knew I had a fanbase like that and it was really cool."

While he may have focused on his activities outside of the Octagon since his loss in May, Sterling hasn't shied away from learning the lessons from his Caraway defeat. His analysis of what transpired was balanced, fair, mature and the words of a man who seemed to be drawn new belief from both the positives and negatives.

"What happened in this was that I was over confident after the first round and it showed my fight IQ," Sterling said. "Look, I took Caraway very, very seriously and I knew what he was capable of and I knew what I was getting myself into and that's why I wanted that challenge.   

"After the first round, I honestly thought the guy had nothing for me after. And the fact that he was able to stick around when I was tired after trying to pull off that submission in the first, that's what won him the fight and I can recognize that. I just didn't feel threatened at all and I felt like he couldn't hurt me.

"Because of that, I just didn't look after my basics and I chased something fancy. After the fight, my brother told me I did something I always say not to do and that was the fancy stuff and moving away from your basics. 

"If I'm totally honest I think I beat myself and if people want to say that's not a humble response then fine but that's the honest truth. Yeah he beat me, he was better that night, but I think I made some big mistakes. He did well to capitalize on the opportunities that I presented to him and kudos to him for being able to do that." 

While happy to admit his own shortcoming in the Octagon on the night, one thing Sterling was adamant he wouldn't change were the words he had for both Caraway and his girlfriend before the fight.

Unapologetic about 'Mr Tate'

"I don't regret anything I said, I didn't say anything out of place or out of turn," Sterling said. "So it's ok for another to say it but not for an athlete who's going to get punched in the face by him to say it? Are you kidding me? That makes zero sense to me.

"Let's be real here, he's trying to hit me unconscious or choke me unconscious so as far as I see it, this is killed or be killed. There are no friends in this. I have no hate towards the guy [Caraway] but that was the mental warfare and at the end of the day, we enter physical warfare."

Sterling isn't going to offer an apology for the heated exchanges leading up to their tilt because it was all done to make moves on his career path. 

"To be honest I only said all that to actually get him to take the fight," Sterling said. "He didn't want to fight me as he knew I was the toughest fighter out of all of those other guys and that's why he didn't want the fight with me. I respected him and I wanted that fight so that's why I said it. As I said I don't regret anything I said. I compared him to Miesha and I don't think that's any insult in any way.

"If people want to get riled up because I said 'she wears the pants in the relationship', I said that because she's the one always fighting and he's the one always on the sidelines. I don't think that's an inaccurate statement. If people want to be butt-hurt about it then they can be butt-hurt about it--I don't give a sh*t."   

The return of 'Strong Island' 

With Sterling now content with what had gone on before both in and out of the Octagon, the only he had left to address was his return from his bicep surgery and his path for getting back on the crest of the divisional surge he had been riding. 

"I just had this surgery on my bicep tendon and it's about three months recovery," Sterling said. "Trust me I'm going to come out of this thing a freakin savage. You guys have no idea. I know where I belong and I know what I'm capable of. The future is mine to lose."

Sterling's desired date and event to return wasn't surprising at all.

"I'm focused on fighting on UFC 205 or later," Sterling said. "The stage is there for the 'Return Of Strong Island', the 'Strong Island Boys' are back. We will be back in full force, Ragin Al - don't boo him, Chris Weidman you better join the team, Aljamain Sterling you better protect your goddamn neck."

As for an opponent, Sterling wasn't fussy.

"I like the Michael McDonald matchup, I like the John Lineker matchup, heck I'd even take on Eddie Wineland and of course, Assuncao he's another one," he said. "There are tons of good matchups for me out there. Let's just see what the matchmakers do."