Brett Johns Assures Aljamain Sterling He’s ‘Ready For War’ At UFC Atlantic City

UFC Atlantic City goes down this weekend and an exciting bantamweight matchup between Brett Johns and Aljamain Sterling will take place on the main card.

Johns made big waves last year when he became just the second man in UFC history to submit and opponent with a calf slicer submission. The win catapulted the Welshman up to #14 in the UFC rankings and this weekend he gets the opportunity to crack the top ten when he faces #8 ranked Sterling.

Both fighters haven’t been shy of a word or two for one another in the build up to the fight, but for the most part the talk has been respectful. Sterling, who is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Marlon Moraes last year, is looking to bounce back strongly with a big performance this weekend and speaking to MMANytt.com earlier this week, Johns knows that the American will be looking to right some wrongs.

“He’s a god fighter and I think he’s going to come in with more of a wrestling game plan,” Johns said. “If I was coming from his situation, coming off that loss to Moraes, don’t get me wrong, it was a perfectly timed shot that he got hit with and I do think he was a bit unlucky getting caught with that. But saying that, I think it’s just going to make him more fired up to get in there and win to put it behind him

“He’s still in the top-10 and that’s where I want to be after this. I’ve got a name I’m going to ask for after I beat him, but I’m not looking past him at all. He’s a tough competitor and he’s going to be a tough fight.”

Johns’ 30-second win over Joe Soto last year came in a blink of an eye and meant the fight was over before it had ever really begin. Sterling has warned Johns that he better be ready for a much tougher time in the Octagon this weekend, but the Welshman doesn’t seems to be anxious whatsoever about having to grind out the win.

“He keeps saying that I better be ready for a war, but Jim, I’m always ready for a war,” Johns said. “In my last fight I s*** my pants when I finished the fight because I didn’t even know. I’m always going in there ready to go to war for 15-minutes so when I finished the fight in 30-seconds, it was mad. I didn’t even know what happened.

“If he thinks I’m not ready for a war he’s sorely mistaken. I spent my whole camp preparing to go 15-minutes. Cardio-wise I’m the best I’ve ever been. It’s going to be a tough fight and I’m happy it’s going to be a tough fight. I want him to come in with that fire and that hunger and I want him to be the best Aljamain Sterling, not the worst. It’s been a tough camp and I’ve trained my ass off every single day. I’ve not got anything else other than fighting and on April 21 I’m going to shock the world again.”

A win for Johns will put him right in the mix of the 135-pounds division and arguably just another big win away from a title shot. Despite the belt being in sight now, Johns isn’t shying away from the task at hand this weekend and he reiterated he’s ready to put it all on the line to get the win.

“This is going to be war and I’m expecting it go to the scorecards,” Johns said.

“Don’t get me wrong, if I can knock him out, I’ll knock him out, and if I can get a sub, I’ll go for it, but I’m prepared to do whatever I need to do to get my hand raised.”