UFC bantamweight title contender TJ Dillashaw has claimed champion Aljamain Sterling is "not threatening", and insists that the promotion struggle to put together highlight packages from his biggest wins.
The 36-year-old is bidding to reclaim the bantamweight title he never lost in the octagon over three years since he was forced to relinquish the belt after failing a drugs test. He earned a shot at the belt with by grinding out victory over Corey Sandhagen last year, and has battled back from a knee injury to be ready for Saturday's fight at UFC 280.
And he is not threatened at all by Sterling, whose title reign began with controversy after he won the belt by DQ against Petr Yan before dominating the Russian in their return fight. Both renowned grapplers, Dillashaw believes that Sterling isn't the type of opponent that worries rivals like a heavy-hitter would.
The two-time champion even believes that the UFC have had a hard time putting together highlight packages of his fights in order to promote this weekend's event, which takes place at prime time for UK viewers on BT Sport Box Office. Speaking to Mirror Fighting , Dillashaw explained why he isn't intimated by the current champion.
"He's not a very threatening fighter," Dillashaw joked. "He's not the type of guy you fight and go 'oh my God, not Aljamain Sterling! What if I'm a highlight reel knockout?' Nah. They made highlights of all the fighters on the card leading up to this to promote the card and they couldn't make one of Aljamain Sterling. They can't make a highlight tape on him because he has no f***ing highlights!
"Look, Aljamain does some great things - that's the reason why he's at where he's at, the reason why he's got the winning streak that he's got. He's a threat, but I think I match up perfect with him and he's going to try those desperate takedowns. What won him the fight against Yan was two takedowns, out of 22 shots it was two takedowns before Yan gave up his back.
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Dillashaw took on a high-level striker in Sandhagen last time out to earn his shot at the belt, and isn't concerned about Sterling's ability on the feet. However, he understands that unorthodox striking can cause problems at times, and has planned for the "worst case scenario".
"His striking is pretty sloppy which I guess he uses to his advantage because it's so unorthodox," he continued. "It's almost easier to fight a guy who's real traditional and slips punches the way he's supposed to but you don't have to be threatened by any power or anything. He throws nothing but arm punches, his kicks are thrown with no set-ups so I'm not too concerned.
"Sterling's got great back control, it's great. Something I'll say is that I think Yan took their fight a little too lightly because of what he did to him the first time. He didn't train for the worst case scenario and that's something I do, I train for the worst case scenario stuff and prepare for when it's not going my way. It did not look like Yan did that for that fight."
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