UFC bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling has been asking for a fight against Bryan Caraway, and now he’s finally getting it on May 29th.
Undefeated bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling’s first fight on his new UFC contract will be against the man he’s been calling out for more than a year.
Newsday’s Mark LaMonica reported on Thursday that the Long Island native will be heading to Las Vegas to take on Bryan Caraway at UFC Fight Night 88 on Sunday, May 29th. The card airs live on Fox Sports 1, and it’s highly likely that this will be Sterling’s first ever appearance on a UFC main card.
Sterling (12-0) holds submission wins over Takeya Mizugaki and Johnny Eduardo, as well as a TKO of Hugo Viana and a decision win vs. Cody Gibson. Following the Eduardo win, Sterling tested the free agent market, but ultimately decided to stay with the UFC. It’s a full-circle moment for “The Funkmaster”, whose UFC debut in February 2014 came as a result of Caraway pulling out a scheduled fight with Lucas Martins (who himself would be replaced by Gibson).
Caraway (20-7) hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision win over Eddie Wineland at UFC on FOX 16 in Chicago. The TUF 14 alum is 4-2 overall at bantamweight, with wins over Mitch Gagnon, Johnny Bedford, Erik Perez, and Wineland, and losses to Takeya Mizugaki and Raphael Assuncao. Caraway could’ve faced TUF 14 winner John Dodson at UFC 196, but turned it down because his girlfriend, Miesha Tate, was fighting on the card and would eventually become the new women’s bantamweight champion.
The 26-year-old Sterling has frequently called out Caraway, even referring to him as “Mr. Tate”, as well as suggesting that Caraway doesn’t want to fight him. Caraway has responded accordingly, expressing interest in fighting Sterling, but he says it’s not because of the trash-talking. Now these two top 10 ranked bantamweights will finally face each other inside the Octagon.
UFC Fight Night 88 is headlined by a five-round bantamweight clash between knockout specialists Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt. The co-main features former bantamweight champion Renan Barao making his UFC featherweight debut against Jeremy Stephens.
Programming note: On Friday morning, Bloody Elbow will upload complete audio of the Three Amigos Podcast‘s interview with Sterling, which was recorded several hours before his fight with Caraway was confirmed.