Aljamain Sterling previews Brian Ortega clash at UFC Shanghai while outlining title picture implications: "On top, he's pretty tough"

Aljamain Sterling recently shared his thoughts on his upcoming clash against Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai. The former UFC bantamweight champion issued a preview of the fight while giving Ortega his flowers for his grappling skills.

Sterling and Ortega will throw down in a featherweight contest in the co-main event of UFC Shanghai this weekend. The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Sterling admitted that being on friendly terms with Ortega put him in an unfamiliar situation. However, he was confident of his chances against the jiu-jitsu savant and said:

"He does have some tricky stuff off his back. On top, he's pretty tough. He's got a really nasty head-and-arm choke... He seems pretty well-versed with chokes, so I've got to be careful with that. I think my top pressure, my passing game, should be good enough to get to some good, dominant positions. Hopefully I can get to where I'm really, really strong, which is side control or the back mount."

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Sharing his two cents on how the outcome could impact his title aspirations, he continued:

"I think this is a big win for me to possibly get back into the top five. If I can do that, things are going to be looking pretty good for me to get a title shot opportunity, probably at this point after Lerone Murphy... I think for both Brian and me, this is one of those high-stakes matchups where winner takes all." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Watch the full interview below:

Brian Ortega previews Aljamain Sterling fight at UFC Shanghai

Brian Ortega recently shared his thoughts on facing Aljamain Sterling at UFC Shanghaim this weekend. While many are expecting the two grappling maestros to battle it out on the ground, Ortega is hoping to have a stand-up scrap with the former UFC bantamweight champion.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, 'T-City' previewed the Sterling fight and hoped the two men could give fans "a hell of a fight" and said:

"If it was my choice, we bang it out. Simple as that. You see me, I kind of rarely shoot in. I'm not really the guy to shoot in. So, if it were up to me, we would bang it out on our feet and give the fans a hell of a fight. But something's telling me he's going to shoot in... He's good at keeping his distance and his range with those kicks, but yeah, it's something that we've trained for. We watch the fights, we study film." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

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Edited by Nishant Zende.