Aljamain Sterling was born on July 31, 1989, in Uniondale, New York, to Jamaican parents Cleveland and Sophia Sterling. According to his Wikipedia biography, he grew up in a large household with seven full siblings and at least a dozen half-siblings, in a neighborhood where gang involvement was common and had already touched some of his own brothers.

Sterling didn’t start wrestling until the tenth grade, when a physical education teacher and coach named Tim Godoy introduced him to the sport at Uniondale High School in 2004. As Sterling told ESPN, wrestling became “my avenue to go to college,” giving him a structured, individual pursuit where his own effort determined the outcome, at a time when he needed exactly that kind of direction.

Sterling wrestled at Morrisville State College before transferring to SUNY Cortland, where he became a two-time NCAA Division III All-American with a career record of 87-27, per Wikipedia. He graduated with a degree in physical education, becoming, according to the same ESPN profile, the first person among his many siblings to finish college.

During his college years Sterling was introduced to mixed martial arts and began training at The BombSquad gym in Ithaca, New York, at the invitation of a young Jon Jones. He turned pro in 2011 and built his early record on the regional circuit, winning titles with Ring of Combat and Cage Fury Fighting Championships before the UFC signed him in 2014.

Sterling made his UFC debut in February 2014 at UFC 170, earning a modest $10,000 show purse plus a $10,000 win bonus for the fight, according to Sportskeeda’s breakdown of his career earnings. He fought out of the Serra-Longo Fight Team on Long Island, New York, training under Ray Longo and Matt Serra, and spent the next several years climbing the bantamweight rankings on the strength of a durable, high output grappling style.

By the back half of the 2010s Sterling had established himself as one of the most avoided contenders in the division, stringing together wins that eventually earned him a shot at the vacant bantamweight title against Petr Yan, the fight that would define the next chapter of his career.

On March 6, 2021, at UFC 259, Sterling won the UFC bantamweight championship when Petr Yan was disqualified in the fourth round for an illegal knee to a downed opponent, making Sterling the first fighter in UFC history to win a title by disqualification, as reported by CBS Sports. He legitimized that reign fourteen months later at UFC 273 in April 2022, beating Yan by split decision in a straight rematch to retain the belt on his own terms.

Sterling went on to defend the title twice more, stopping T.J. Dillashaw by TKO at UFC 280 in October 2022 and edging Henry Cejudo by split decision at UFC 288 in May 2023, a result confirmed by the UFC’s official judges’ scorecards. His official UFC athlete profile credits him with the most wins in bantamweight division history and the most consecutive bantamweight title defenses. He lost the belt to Sean O’Malley by second round TKO at UFC 292 in August 2023, then moved up to featherweight in 2024, where he has gone 3-1, beating Calvin Kattar, Brian Ortega, and Youssef Zalal while losing a decision to Movsar Evloev, bringing his overall professional record to 26-5.

Sterling fights under the nickname “Funk Master,” a nod to the unorthodox, wrestling heavy style that made him difficult for opponents to game plan against. His UFC.com profile lists him among the most statistically dominant fighters in bantamweight history by both volume and title defenses.

His public profile took an unusual hit right after he became champion. As teammate Merab Dvalishvili later explained to ESPN, a photo Dvalishvili posted of Sterling posing with the belt at home, meant as a show of support, instead triggered a wave of criticism that Sterling was celebrating a win he hadn’t really earned. Sterling pushed back publicly, noting he had asked Dana White for an immediate rematch from his hospital bed, and the real rematch win over Yan at UFC 273 is widely credited with resetting that narrative.

Sterling wore Reebok product during the UFC’s exclusive apparel era earlier in his career and now fights in Venum, the promotion’s current kit sponsor. Beyond the standard UFC deal, reporting from JKCP lists personal partnerships with DraftKings, the protein snack brand P3, and the sports drink BodyArmor, sponsorships that JKCP estimates add more than $200,000 a year to his income.

Footyvar’s career earnings breakdown adds training gear brand Hayabusa and the recovery brand BioSteel to that list, along with Everlast, consistent with the equipment and supplement sponsorships common among UFC main event level fighters.

Sterling’s income has been built almost entirely around UFC fight purses and title era bonuses rather than outside business holdings. Available reporting does not document a personal apparel line, restaurant, gym ownership stake, or other outside company tied to his name, a pattern consistent with active fighters whose primary asset is still their in-cage earning power.

Coverage of his most recent featherweight bouts, including EssentiallySports’ payout estimates for his 2026 fight against Youssef Zalal, project purses in the $500,000 to $650,000 range even outside of a title fight, underscoring that his championship résumé still commands premium fight night pay well after losing the belt.

Sterling owns a house in Massapequa, New York, on Long Island, not far from where he trains, and drives a Toyota Camry Hybrid, according to SportsTiger’s profile of his career earnings and assets. It is a comparatively modest property and vehicle picture for a former UFC champion, consistent with a fighter whose wealth remains concentrated in fight purses rather than a diversified asset portfolio.

The clearest documented example of Sterling using his fight money on a major purchase involves someone else entirely: he bought his mother a house as a Mother’s Day gift once his UFC earnings allowed it, a detail included in ESPN’s feature on how his championship run changed his life.