Midnight Mania! ‘Funkmaster’ Struggling With UFC 300 Camp Post-Suga Binge

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling is turning a new chapter in his career. After three successful title defenses at 135-pounds, Sterling came up short opposite Sean O’Malley, getting dropped and finished early in the second round. Rather than continue to deplete himself with a harsh cut to Bantamweight, Sterling will try his hand at Featherweight.

He’s scheduled to meet veteran contender Calvin Katter at UFC 300 in April.

Four months away from the fight, Sterling is starting the process of ramping up his training and getting back into fighting form. However, “Funkmaster” admitted recently that he’s not off to a smooth start, as he still has to lose much of the weight he gained in the aftermath of the O’Malley loss.

“I do wonder how much I’m going to blow up to after the fight,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel (via MMAJunkie). “Whenever I make 135, I’m almost – just about the last five years, I’ve pretty much always hit 180. Like your body is holding on to everything, blowing back up, so I do wonder if I’m going to do the same thing. I got a sweet tooth and even though I’m not only eating candies and chocolates, it almost feels like a bottomless pit.

“Like you can’t help yourself. You’re telling yourself to stop eating, but somehow your hands are still moving towards the fridge, your legs are still walking towards the fridge, your fingers are dialing DoorDash and Uber Eats. Somehow you’re still ordering food when you know you don’t want anything. It’s like a sickness.”

Truthfully, disordered eating is extremely common amongst MMA fighters. Weight cutting is not a healthy process; it necessitates long periods of caloric deficit and very much resembles starvation. After the cut and fight, the body is eager to retain weight and store fat, resulting in the major weight gain and the endless desire to consume that Sterling describes.

There’s another element to Sterling’s struggles, however. After the loss, Sterling admits that he spent a lot of time drinking and smoking hookah, which do not prepare the body well for combat. He’s also still adjusting to sparring longer, taller opponents. Historically, striking at range has been a big part of the “Funkmaster” strategy, but some adjustments will need to be made when Sterling is the one faced with a reach disadvantage.

“Right now I’m just tired,” Sterling said. “I do one to two rounds of striking, and I’m exhausted. Also (I’m) moving around and trying to do what I do when I’m lighter. Those eight to nine weeks of drinking every single day and hookah non-stop, staying up late at night, it definitely took a toll on my lungs, so I still feel like I’m battling back from and trying to gain all that. We sparred, and I felt like I had a relatively solid day except when I went with Julian Erosa.

“I did some good stuff, but there’s still some things I’m having trouble with because of the height difference. (He’s 6-foot-1) and fights at 145. There’s going to be some things I need to figure out where I was closer to being the tallest guy at bantamweight. Now you got Sean Woodson, you got Julian Erosa, you got some of these guys who are just like trees, so I’ve got to figure out the game with that. Taking them down, being able to maintain control for longer periods of time, working the threshold and understanding all of that.”

The fortunate part of all this is that Sterling still has a ton of time to prepare. True fight camps don’t usually start until about eight weeks prior to the contest, so Sterling still has about two months to shed some weight and get his lungs working properly before he really has to put his nose to the grindstone.

Insomnia

Forget the shadowboxing in public, Takeru was putting a beating on his training partner!

This is the best Karate Combat advertisement I’ve ever seen. Now I really want to go to an event!

Beautiful technique, incredible form.

For anyone unimpressed by UFC 5, this may be a project to keep an eye on.

It’s genuinely incredible that Kamaru Usman has been able to accomplish so much with knees that barely function. Unreal toughness!

Maybe not a popular choice nowadays, but I’m going Randy Couture. Won the Light Heavyweight belt twice + a unification bout, then won the Heavyweight belt three times AND defended it thrice. Better than the rest!

Kenny Bayless has more than earned retirement.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Landed perfectly with six consecutive punches!

Shaaban absolutely emptied the tank en route to a brutal finish.

The last great Jon Jones performance at 205 pounds.

Random Land

Some impressive home engineering.

Midnight Music: Grunge, 1991

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.