Aljamain Sterling ramps up row with UFC in bid for featherweight titl… — and more

Aljamain Sterling’s frustration with the UFC was clear after his win at RAF06, where he voiced his issues with how the featherweight division is being managed.

The former bantamweight champion, who last fought in August, made his return to competition at RAF06 this past Saturday.

He put in a strong performance, earning a third-round tech fall win over Benson Henderson and adding another highlight to his career.

After the win, Sterling voiced his frustrations over the UFC’s approach to managing featherweights.

Aljamain Sterling calls out UFC over featherweight title shot

Since moving up to 145lbs, Sterling has fought three times, picking up wins against Brian Ortega and Calvin Kattar but suffering a loss to Movsar Evloev.

And since his victory over ‘T-City’, the 36-year-old has been pushing for multiple fights without any clear progress towards getting one booked.

Following his win on the wrestling mats, ‘Funkmaster’ took aim at the UFC, demanding a shot at the featherweight title.

“Nothing (in the works) as of yet, I saw that announcement, the battle of the Bellasores,” Sterling said to MMAFighting in regards to the fight between Aaron Pico and Patricio ‘Pitbull’.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, been with the company since 2014, I’ve been calling my shot, defended my belt the most in the bantamweight division, tied with a couple of other greats.

“Give me my f—— shot, I deserve a shot at the title, OG vs OG, I’m smarter than all of these dumb motherf—— out there… Diego Lopes gets a f—— rematch and he goes out there and fights worse.

“Yeah, I don’t have knockout power, that’s never been my game, I win with (my head), I’m smarter than a lot of these guys. I’m an OG of the game, give me my f—— title shot, I’ll put on a good show… I’ve earned this.”

Aljamain Sterling open to fights against Jean Silva, Yair Rodriguez, and Youssef Zalal

Sterling has been pushing to serve as the backup for the UFC London main event between Lerone Murphy and Evloev, but that role might not be his.

According to ‘Funkmaster,’ he is hearing that Jean Silva could step into that spot instead.

In response, Sterling said he would be willing to face Silva, Yair Rodriguez, or Youssef Zalal in order to secure a title shot.

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Aston Villa have only won two of their past seven games. This is not the form of a team looking to secure Champions League football, nor one sitting third in the league for several months.

The team are looking sluggish, lacking in creativity and struggling to keep a clean sheet. Performances have been underwhelming, which has perhaps been more of a concern than the dwindling points tally.

The fixture against Chelsea at Villa Park on Wednesday is season-defining. A Champions League 'six-pointer' in which Villa could build a nine-point gap on the visitors, or the deficit between fourth and sixth could shrink to three points.

How can Unai Emery turn things around in a period of decline? It's time for something different - a fresh approach that will inject energy into a weary side creaking under the pressure.

The boss will never rip up his tactics sheet and start afresh, particularly in the final run-in of the season. But his team needs an evolution, not a revolution.

The easiest way for Villa to evolve is a change in starting personnel. Tammy Abraham has looked lively since his arrival, but has struggled to seize the shirt from Ollie Watkins. As Villa's record Premier League goalscorer struggles to net, the ex-Chelsea forward should be eyeing a start against his former club as an opportunity to stake his claim.

Meanwhile, youngster Alysson, who has had a stop-start beginning to his journey in claret and blue, has shown promise in his brief cameos so far. An energetic and physical attacker looking to impose himself on the Premier League feels exactly the type of player to fire Villa's frontline.

As the team look to spark the atmosphere at Villa Park, a refreshed performance will be the thing that really reignites belief and excitement among fans, who are longing to see the tide turn in a lengthy history of Villa falling at the final hurdle.

Find more from Hannah Gowen at UTV

Liam Rosenior has just given a press conference update on the fitness of a few of his key players ahead of our game against Aston Villa.

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We’re desperately trying to find some positives from Chelsea’s horrible loss to Arsenal yesterday, featuring as it did another red card and two more goals conceded from set pieces.

The one place we could turn to was the team news, where it sounds like we’re close to getting some important players back. Rosenior had positive updates on a few of his first team squad members.

Rosenior drops update on Cucurella, Lavia and Gittens

Liam Rosenior speaks to the media after Chelsea’s loss to Arsenal.

“[Players are] getting closer. [Marc] Cucurella is looking really good. Hopefully, we can get him back involved, if not for Wednesday, for Saturday, for sure, which is great for the schedule we’ve got coming up,” Rosenior said.

“Estevao [Willian] is back on the pitch running, which is great. Jamie Gittens is doing really well. It’s been brilliant to have Romeo Lavia get his first minutes in a long time. I felt he looked really strong. So, yeah, the quicker we get all of our players healthy, the better.”

It certainly was nice to see Lavia back in the team – how long that will last is another question, of course. With Pedro Neto suspended for Wednesday’s game after his yellow card, it’s vital that Estevao and Gittens get fit as soon as possible too – although neither sound like they will be ready for this one.

In other news…

Cole Palmer took a knock in the game against Arsenal and looked like he wanted to come off, even though he ended up playing on.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here:

Veteran striker David McGoldrick bagged a hat-trick in Barnsley's 3-1 win away to Leyton Orient at the weekend and continues to show that age is just a number.

McGoldrick bagged goals in the 10th, 53rd, and 62nd minute of the game against Orient to put himself on 15 goals in 31 games in all competitions for the season. The forward has only scored more goals in a single season three times in his career and we still have plenty more games to be played.

The Barnsley man's best goalscoring season so far is still the 25 he netted for Derby County in the 2022/23 season followed by 21 for both Coventry City and Ipswich Town 10 years earlier in the 2012/13 campaign, and his third best season was just last year – 17 goals in 37 games for Notts County.

The hat-trick at the weekend moved McGoldrick to the number one goal scorer in the top four tiers for 2026, putting him ahead of Reading's Jack Marriott (nine) with Kyrell Lisbie and Jayden Wareham just behind on eight.

In comparison, the top Premier League goalscorer for 2026 is Brentford's Igor Thiago with seven since the start of the new year.

What made McGoldrick's treble even more remarkable is that he set a new League One record. Since the branding of the third tier in the 2004/05 season, McGoldrick is now the oldest player to score a hat-trick at 38 years, 2 months, and 28 days.

Dean Windass had the previous record for his hat-trick against Scunthorpe United all the way back in the 2005/06 season (37 years old) and he also has the third-placed hat-trick from the game against Bournemouth (36 years, 29 days old).

With 15 games left in the season, McGoldrick could well go on to have his best year of his career – could even break his own hat-trick record?