In advance of the contest, he’d relocated to Las Vegas and began training at Xtreme Couture, getting additional looks and bodies to work with as he geared up for the biggest opportunity of his career.
While the night didn’t go as planned, the foundational pieces of the fight camp were solid, giving Sterling plenty of reasons to be optimistic about how things will play out when he and Yan share the Octagon again in 2022.
“It’s been really good,” he said of the move to Las Vegas. “The most important piece of that is that I’ve got different eyes looking at me, and different bodies to work with.
“There are so many talented guys over there to train with and I think I benefit a lot from getting to see where everybody else is at in comparison to where my skills are at. I think that has only helped to give me more confidence that I am exactly where I belong.
“Good things happen if you put the time in, put the work in, and I’m just going to make sure I show that on the day,” he added. “I know he’s a tough dude, but he’s just another man. Sandhagen showed that he can bleed, I showed that he can slow down, and I can’t wait to shut him up and be done with this guy so I can move on to the next.”