Marlon Moraes knows why Dana White hasn’t given Aljamain Sterling a title shot: “Dana wants to see blood”

UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes believes he knows why UFC president Dana White hasn’t given Aljamain Sterling a title shot at 135lbs yet.

Sterling tapped out Cory Sandhagen in the first round of their bout at UFC 250 which was supposed to be a No. 1 contender fight in the UFC bantamweight division. After Petr Yan defeated Jose Aldo at UFC 251 to win the vacant UFC bantamweight belt, fans and media naturally assumed that Sterling would be next in line for the title. However, White has been non-committal towards giving Sterling the title shot just yet. Moraes believes he knows why.

Speaking to Lucas Grandsire of MyMMANews, Moraes — the No. 1 contender in the UFC bantamweight division — explained why he believes White hasn’t committed to Sterling as the next title challenger just yet.

“Dana White’s an MMA fan. He’s a fighting fan. I don’t think he wants to see one guy trying to get the other guy’s head off but the other guy is just avoiding him, trying to hug him, scared to get hit. I think he wants to see a guy who’s going to get in there, is going to hit him, is going to hit back. If that guy doesn’t get knocked out, he’s going to get knocked out. I think that’s what Dana and that’s what the fans want to see,” Moraes said.

“I think people are a little bored. You know you get in there and just try to hug and pray for a submission. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think every fan and Dana wants to see blood, he wants to see one guy knock the other guy out.”

Moraes has been campaigning for a title shot of his own as of late. After all, he’s 5-2 overall in the UFC and is coming off of a decision win over Jose Aldo at UFC 245. He also has a knockout win over Sterling, which he believes should put him at the top of the list of the next title contenders at 135lbs. While Moraes was impressed by what Sterling did to Sandhagen, he believes his head-to-head KO win puts him ahead in the title shot queue.

“Yes, I was impressed. Cory Sandhagen is a great fighter but Sterling was smart. He went in there, he knew in the first round if he pushed for the grappling, he had lots of chance to submit him. That’s what he did, hats off to him,” Moraes said. “But when he fought that didn’t happen.”

Do you think Marlon Moraes is correct about why Dana White hasn’t committed to giving Aljamain Sterling a title shot yet?