Sterling thinks Youssef
Zalal was almost looking past him.
Zalal faced Sterling in the first
UFC main event of his career last weekend at the Apex in Las
Vegas. Despite Sterling being a former bantamweight champion, Zalal
was a favorite going into the fight. However, Sterling thoroughly
dominated Zalal on the ground, even landing the more damaging
strikes on the feet, to earn a unanimous decision win.
For Sterling, Zalal’s confidence almost bordered on cockiness
during fight week. Sterling believes Zalal felt that it was his
time and started counting his chickens before they hatched. Despite
having trained together in the past, Sterling thinks Zalal forgot
what went down in the gym.
The Wrong Aura
“He had an aura about him – I didn’t know if it was cockiness or
confidence,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “It’s always a very fine line
with that… It almost felt like he was looking past me… He almost
felt like it was his time, and he was counting his chickens before
they hatched. I think that was his mistake. I think he looked past
what he actually dealt with in the training room and my past few
performances. I think he just came in a little
overconfident.”
While Zalal’s (18-6) forgettable first stint in the UFC ended in
2022, he made his way back to the promotion with three straight
first-round finishes on the regional circuit. “The Moroccan Devil”
continued his success in his second UFC stint, earning five
straight victories before falling against Sterling. Meanwhile,
Sterling (26-5) has defeated Calvin
Kattar, Brian
Ortega, and Zalal, while only losing to top contender Movsar
Evloev since moving up to featherweight in 2024.