Aljamain Sterling: If I'm going to be crippled and broken up, I'd rather have money to go with it

Aljamain Sterling is right on the cusp of a UFC bantamweight title shot. The #5 ranked contender pulled off a fantastic guillotine choke vs. fellow top 10 ranked Johnny Eduardo at UFC Fight Night 80 in Las Vegas last month. The 26-year-old Long Island native is a perfect 12-0 in his MMA career, including 4-0 inside the Octagon. He's recorded 3 finishes in a row and has established himself as a potential UFC title challenger.

But, there's just one problem: Sterling's immediate future may not be in the UFC.

The Eduardo fight represented the last one on Sterling's current deal. His reported salary for UFC Fight Night 80 was $14,000/$14,000, well below the $40,000/$40,000 figure for unranked lightweight prospect Sage Northcutt. Sterling already turned down what he called a "laughable" offer from the UFC of $20,000/$20,000 (with $3,000 increases after each fighter), and is one of three current top 10 UFC fighters -- Ben Henderson and Alistair Overeem are the other two -- testing the free agent market. Despite his success, Sterling has yet to appear on a main card, and his last bout was buried on the prelims of a Fight Pass show, even though it was a match-up between a pair of top 10 fighters.

It's no secret that Sterling is one of the most outspoken figures in all of MMA when it comes to the always controversial subject of fighter pay, especially at a time when the UFC generated record revenue after a big 2015. In an interview with the Three Amigos Podcast (recorded last Thursday night), Sterling was asked whether or not he's been chastised or been given a talking to by the higher-ups in the UFC.

"From the upper echelon of the promotion? No I have not," said Sterling. "But I wouldn't be surprised if I did. Actually, I would be surprised, because I don't feel like I'm saying anything crazy. I don't think I'm saying anything over the top, right? I don't know, I can't judge for myself, but I think I'm saying everything in a respectful manner at the same time. I don't think there's anything I said it in such a way where [the UFC thinks] I'm throwing the company under the bus. It's just ... I'm just stating facts and I'm stating reasons why things should change."

Unlike Eddie Alvarez, who on last week's UFC Boston conference call said of Conor McGregor, "When one fighter gets paid more, it's good for all of us. So I'm happy to see money coming in," Sterling doesn't buy into the idea that McGregor's future big paydays will have a "trickle-down effect," and benefit other fighters.

"I just don't see what Conor McGregor has to do with anyone else," Sterling said. "If you go into a negotiating room and are like, 'Well I was on the same card as Conor McGregor, so maybe I should get a little bit more money,' they'll probably just look at you like, 'What? In what universe does that even make sense?' So I don't see how anyone could possibly think it's going to be a trickle-down effect."

"How does McGregor's money affect you and your life?" He continued. "That doesn't make any sense to me. I agree with Matt Mitrione -- man, he's had 12 fights? I didn't even know it was that many so far. That's a long time already -- and he's getting paid less than the Golden Boy [Sage Northcutt]. I like Sage, but people think I'm hating on the guy. No, I'm not hating on that guy, I actually commend him for getting that much money for his 2nd UFC fight, but when you see that, it kinda just makes you think to yourself, 'Man, what the hell else do I have to do to pull in some numbers similar to that?' You're not even asking for the same money, but something similar to that."

As far as Sterling's own future, he says his manager, Malki Kawa, told him another promotion was interested in signing him for more money than the UFC has offered, but never disclosed which one it was.

"I haven't even spoken to [Malki Kawa] yet because of the holidays. I know he told me another company was willing to pay me a lot more if I was really serious about coming over. I told him I'm for real, this is no joke. I'm trying to get paid. This whole legacy thing is cool, but at the end of the day, if I'm going to be crippled and broken up, I'd rather have money to go with it than to be crippled, broken up, and poor and just regretful and have a bad taste in my mouth from the sport, so I'm just looking out for #1."

Even when Sterling gets his new contract, don't expect him to cease being vocal about fighter pay. He still plans on being a leader for other fighters in the sport who don't have a voice on the payment structure, and he wants to be a role model in the MMA world.

"Of course. I think it starts with one, and if you don't have someone to look up to, I want to be that guy that people look up to. I've kinda been in that spotlight for a while now. I've been the captain of my wrestling team, my college team, so to me, I've been in that leadership role for a very long time. I'm from a family of 20, so I'm one of the oldest guys, I grew up a lot having my brothers and sisters walk with me to school when I had to be the guy to watch them and all these things, so I kinda learned how to develop those leadership skills at a very early age.

It doesn't bother me to have people looking up to me, because I don't think I say anything too crazy or over the top where people can't look at me as a role model. And I think for me, I never had a lot of role models growing up. To be honest, I never even had a role model to look up to. None of my parents went to school, my dad never actually worked a legitimate job, so I didn't have much of a good family trail to help motivate and push me growing up.

I'm willing to be that guy for other people. I get a lot of fighters that hit me up on social media and tell me 'You inspire me, hopefully I get to fight on the same card as you one day,' and things like that, and that's awesome for me. It makes me feel good, like I'm actually doing my part in this world and the MMA world. It's all about giving back and it's all about being open to people to ask questions, so that people can learn from you and they don't have to go ahead and make the same mistakes and struggle the same way, and maybe they can have an easier, or should I say better life. You don't necessarily want things to be easy, but at the same time, you don't want to have to struggle with things when you could've learned it through somebody else instead of actually having to go through it yourself."

You can check out the show here or via the embedded player below. Remember, if you're looking for us on SoundCloud or iTunes, we're under the MMA Nation name. Follow our Twitter accounts: Stephie Haynes, Three Amigos Podcast, Iain Kidd and Mookie Alexander or our Facebook fan page, Three Amigos Podcast.