I don't understand Sterling improvement

He didn't improve between the 1st and 2nd Yan fights. He just had a better gameplan the 2nd time around.

In the 1st fight he spent the first 2 rounds throwing high output and high energy techniques. Big crazy spinning kicks and other stuff that will sap your cardio fast.

By the time he tried to grapple he was gassing and no longer had the physicality to match Yan and he was being picked apart.

In the 2nd fight he just went to his bread and butter and controlled Yan and made the fight much more boring, but it was far more effective.
 
He claims he didn't eat before the first Yan fight and he felt drained.

Im sure that's part of it, but the main difference I saw between the first and second fight was confidence. I think Sterling felt what it was like to be in the cage with Yan and got over the jitters of fighting elite competition after that first fight.

In the first fight he was fighting scared, he was pressuring and throwing volume, but he seemed nervous and fidgety, over the course of a 5 round fight, that expends a lot of energy.

In the second fight he came in a lot more relaxed, still pressured, picked his spots, and out grappled Yan cleanly. To me that's a sign of confidence.

The skills and physical attributes were already evident, but Aljo has always been afraid to engage in extended striking exchanges, even before the Moraes KO. He used to lead with kicks, and rarely punched because he was afraid of punching range, and if his kicks got caught, he wasn't really respectful of many BW's ground game.

Aljo leveled up mentally, he truly believes in himself as champion and it's allowed him to fully utilize his skill set. Imo of course, I'm sure other posters have more to add.
 
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Have you not watched other rematches before? Sometimes the rematch goes differently than the original
 
Mammothman said:
He changed his strategy and Yan gameplan didn't match very well with it.
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Yup. The first fight, Sterling tried to outvolume Yan, which only worked to an extent and for a limited period of time. The second fight, he used the backpack to steal rounds, which worked like a charm.

He’s also been training this whole time so he’s probably getting better.
 
He gassed trying to outpace Petr in the first fight. Aljeman's boxing still isn't that good. His wrestling is good and his kicks though.
He had a foot reach advantage and a big height advantage vs Cejudo.
Give Cejudo 2 inches in height and he beats Sterling, also wrestles way better against him.
 
TempleoftheDog said:
He got his neck fixed which he thinks has made a big difference.
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It seems like getting his neck fixed must’ve let him train more or something to get the cardio right.

the dude is legit… not super exciting but very hard to beat in a fight.
It’s funny because merab is probably the best chance of beating him since it seems like putting a pressure on aljo is your best chance of gassing him out
 
Bork Neslar said:
Very suspect.
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what do you mean? this is how small 135ers should look like.
 
He got too excited going forward against Yan in their first fight and got tired, I think this is pretty clear now. He was the same then, he is the same now. Nothing changed. Maybe that neck surgery also improved his body movements, but technique is the same. Maybe he's more patient nowadays, but that's all.
 
ninja boot said:
it depends.
from a fighter perspective its always the smart move to take the dq win, especially true if you're on the wrong side of the cards and/or are sucking wind.
I'm sure you understand this but you said you didn't so.... hate issue is the fans are more interested in "Just Bleed" style fighting and don't feel that shot was significant enough to merit the response it got from Aljo. Not to mention, fans don't want to see results where there isn't a clear cut winner and loser.
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I definitely hear you my man. I’m kind of of the school of yes I do think he took the disqualification purposely like that, in bad faith even, but I think he redeemed himself and I actually enjoy watching him fight but I’m also a scumbag so who knows
 
Gabe said:
He was always elite the first Yan fight just caused people to shit on him. Remember he put Sandhagen to sleep in like 2 minutes?
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I think the one thing people have to look past his is title fight history before that he was dominating the top 10
 
Unpopular opinion, but i think having Merab as one of your main training partners is probably a big reason. Merab has been improving as well; it probably spilled over.
 
He’s been at a high level consistency for a good while now, and constantly fighting top level guys. He had a bad neck up to the first Yan fight, that he got fixed after.

Great fight against Yan 2
Injured Dillashaw
Cejudo.

Let’s think about Cejudo at 135 for a moment.
Beat Moraes who was on a tear for a while at one point but ultimately has a tendency to fold.
Beat an out of prime Cruz
Really when you think about it, Cejudo’s lack of size was never really massively put to the test against a big 135er that had an all round skill set of wrestling and striking


Tbh I was not at all surprised that Sterling won


I’m not disputing Cejudo as a top top fighter but there’s interesting notes to just about all of his title wins and defences across both weights actually
 
backpack-kid-backpack-kid-dance.gif


Aljo should adopt the dance moves..
 
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