With the bantamweight title now vacant following Henry Cejudo's shocking retirement, UFC 250 featured plenty of intriguing matches that could shake up the division's rankings. One of those matches was No. 2-ranked Aljamain Sterling against No. 4-ranked Cory Sandhagen.
Sterling put on the best performance of his career at the perfect time and made a statement that he should be next in line to fight for the bantamweight belt. The "Funk Master" came out quick and took Sandhagen to the mat early on. After taking his opponent's back, Sterling tried to lock in rear naked choke but it didn't quick stick. The second time worked as intended and Sterling put Sandhagen to sleep at 1:28 of round one.
With the win, the No. 2-ranked Sterling moves to 19-3. Now riding a five-fight win streak, Sterling has his sights set on the championship title.
"I think this is the icing on the cake, still one more to go," Sterling said after the fight. "Next stop is UFC gold. That's what I got in my vision. I'm setting my focus on that. Hopefully, we can do it in July. We'll see what happens, whatever Dana White wants to do."
As of right now, it looks like the first two title fighters could be Petr Yan and Marlon Moraes. However, if one of them can't go, Sterling has certainly made a strong case that he should be next in line.