By Shawn Smith

Aljamain Sterling has never been one to hold back from speaking his mind and his recent appearance on UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra was no different.

Sterling wasn’t shy about his thoughts on former foe Raphael Assuncao or Demetrious Johnson’s recent comments about a lack of respect for smaller fighters.

Assuncao and Sterling met in January of 2017, where Assuncao took the split decision victory. Sterling returned to the cage in April to take a unanimous decision against Augusto Mendes. Assuncao welcomed former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes to the UFC, taking a split decision victory over the debuting fighter at UFC 212.

Sterling said the performance, “makes me want a rematch,” adding that he thought both fighters lacked the output to really take control of the fight and that he was fine with the decision.

“What I don’t like is to keep winning decisions like that and celebrating like you finished a guy, won a championship,” Sterling said. “It’s like dude, come on. If that’s the way you want to win, you can’t be mad if you never fight for a title. That’s probably what’s going to happen to him, he’ll probably never get a chance.”

Sterling shared his thoughts on Demetrious Johnson’s recent comments, where the flyweight champion suggested that UFC mistreatment forced him to speak out not only for himself, but for other smaller fighters on the roster.

Serra asked Sterling if he thought Johnson’s comments about a lack of promotion for lighter fighters was true.

“To some degree, but I think if you have personality it doesn’t really matter,” Sterling said. “There is somewhat of a ceiling, but if you look at McGregor as a prime example, he has an entire country behind him. I think some people could do that but it can’t be forced. It’s gotta be authentic and you gotta know how to fight.”

Sterling is scheduled for fight former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao at UFC 214 on July 29.