Aljamain Sterling couldn’t believe his eyes when he witnessed Jon Jones boozing one week before a fight.
However, the encounter left him with an important message that ultimately carved his path to a UFC title.
Jones is the current UFC heavyweight champion and widely regarded as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
He is currently in negotiations with UFC CEO Dana White to fight Briton Tom Aspinall, who has been the promotion’s interim heavyweight champion since November 2023.
‘Bones’ has been urged by the MMA community, and UFC legends like Michael Bisping to ‘hurry up’ and accept the fight with Aspinall to unify the heavyweight division, or retire.
However, reports have suggested that the 37-year-old is asking for six months and an astronomical pay slip to fight the Mancunian, who is six years his junior.
Nonetheless, Jones remains arguably the greatest to ever do it, and former UFC bantamweight champion Sterling was left so shocked when he gained an insight into his early preparations that his mindset changed forever.
“I went to school with him in my freshman year, his sophomore year, before he became a UFC fighter,” Sterling explained on FunkMasterMMA.
“We partied a lot…he drops out, I transfer and see all these pictures of him doing cool s***…I thought, ‘I want to do this.’
“I meet him, I’m thinking I gotta live the life of a monk, I gotta be super disciplined.
“I’m thinking, ‘This is what Jon Jones is doing. This is why he’s killing these guys, cause he’s just here with the mental and the sacrifices and everything, the dedication.’
“And then I see him at the bar, maybe two or three fights into the UFC. He’s probably got a fight the week later, and he’s getting smashed, drinking, having a good time, and he’s offering me a drink.
“I’m like, ‘Nah, I got a fight in five weeks. Wait…you’re fighting tomorrow, bro! I’m confused, what the hell is happening right now?’
“And this changed my mindset. I gave up all the things I enjoyed in life that made training more enjoyable.
“But I was like, ‘The sacrifice, the sacrifice.’ But then I realised it came down to the mental.”
Sterling then explained how being in the right state of mind was the most important thing for him going forward after that meeting with Jones.
He began his fighting career under the Extreme FC banner, where he won the promotion’s amateur bantamweight and featherweight titles, before turning professional at Cage Fury Fighting Championships.
‘Funk Master’ then made his UFC debut in February 2014 and never looked back.
After winning six of his first nine bouts in the promotion, Sterling embarked on nine-fight win streak that led to him being crowned the UFC’s best 135-pound fighter.
He won UFC gold through a DQ win over Petr Yan and proceeded to defend it against MMA legends like TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo.
His dominant title reign came to an abrupt end at UFC 292 in August 2023, when Sean O’Malley shockingly knocked him out to become the new 135lb champion.
Sterling bounced back from the defeat by claiming a unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar after moving up 10 lbs to the featherweight division.
He then suffered a defeat by the same method to Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 in December in his last outing to date.
‘Funk Master’ had no choice but no move up after struggling to make the 135lb bantamweight limit.
He has previously admitted his ‘walk-around weight’ ranges between 170 and 173lbs, meaning he had to shred around 35lbs (16kg) every time he fought for the title.
After defending his championship status against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, O’Malley lost the title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September last year.
Dvalishvili is the reigning bantamweight champion and rematches O’Malley at UFC 316 on June 8 with the title on the line.
