‘Absurd and Delusional’: Aljamain Sterling Rips Jean Silva’s Title Ambitions

Jean Silva was scheduled to fight Yair Rodriguez at UFC Noche in September. But Rodriguez’s undisclosed injury canceled the bout.

Silva fought and defeated an unranked Jose Delgado, who came in on short notice to save the event. Thus, Aljamain Sterling believes this win shouldn’t cement Silva as the next title challenger. 

Aljamain Sterling Says Jean Silva Doesn’t Deserve a Title Shot Next

Jean Silva has only one loss in the UFC. With his victory over Delgado, he is riding a two-fight win streak. Immediately after UFC Noche, Silva demanded to fight for the title. 

Aljamain Sterling was blunt when asked about Silva’s title ambition in an interview with Ariel Helwani. He said, “Jean Silva beat a guy named Jose Delgado short notice, and he dropped him and hurt him pretty bad. And if he thinks he deserves a title shot off of that performance, that's just absurd and delusional.”

In the same vein, Sterling promised to shock the fans in his next fight and claimed his spot in the title picture. “There's no clear-cut contenders right now... I gotta go out there, get some style points, and I'm gonna shock the world,” Sterling said.

Sterling Believes He Is in the Title Conversation

The featherweight title fight is set between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev at UFC 333. Thus, the contenders are trying to cement their names next. 

Sterling is one of them. After losing his bantamweight belt to Sean O’Malley in 2023, ‘Funkmaster’ moved up to ‌the featherweight division and won his debut against Calvin Kattar.

Now with a 3-1 record in the featherweight division, Sterling has two straight wins under his name. He believes a third win would cement him as the next title contender. He will face #10-ranked Kevin Vallejos in the co-main event of UFC Qatar in November.

Other top contenders, including Diego Lopes and Lerone Murphy, are yet to find their next right fight. Thus, considering the scenario, Sterling and Silva’s resumes make a lot of sense. Now it is up to the champion and the UFC to decide.