The “Funk Master” has had a controversial few years in the UFC and yet has shown that he has the grappling smarts to make top fighters look mediocre in the cage. But what’s his walkout song?
Aljamain Sterling’s walkout song is a mashup of Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, followed by It’s All About The Benjamins (Remix) by Puff Daddy for UFC 288. In the past, he usually used I Love by Joyner Lucas.
To learn more about Sterling’s usual song choice and other music he’s chosen for his walkouts, keep reading!
Table of Contents
UFC 288 (Vs. Henry Cejudo)
For his walkout against Cejudo at UFC 288, Sterling walked out to a new mashup which began with Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys (Spotify), quickly followed by It’s All About The Benjamins (Remix) by Puff Daddy (Spotify).
This is a title fight on Henry Cejudo’s return to the UFC to reclaim his Bantamweight belt.
I Love by Joyner Lucas
Sterling’s walkouts have most often featured the song I Love by Joyner Lucas. You can listen to it on Spotify.
It seems that I Love is Aljamain Sterling’s favorite song, which is why he always includes it for his entrances in the UFC.
It’s a rap and hip-hop track, released in 2018 as a single, then under the album ADHD in 2020.
A lot of the song is about coming up from nothing and the streets, being in the hustle, being unable to pay your bills, and getting by.
But it’s also about overcoming that and reaching the top, where new opponents are ready to challenge you.
So the song probably has some greater internal meanings for Aljamain, and it gets him fired up to fight.
UFC 280 (Vs. T.J. Dillashaw)
For Aljamain Sterling’s walkout at UFC 280, he entered with the track Motivation by C. Henry, followed up by his usual I Love by Joyner Lucas.
This was an intriguing fight, to say the least, as Sterling was expected to be challenged by a fighter with great grappling ability in Dillashaw.
Just the year before, T.J. returned to competing in the UFC after a two-year hiatus and ban for PED use and defeated Cory Sandhagen to win back some respect with the UFC.
But the fight with Sterling didn’t go the way anyone expected.
Aljamain overwhelmed T.J. early on by taking him down to the mat and constantly applying ground-and-pound pressure.
The fight was over pretty early, in the middle of the second round, as the ref stopped the fight since Sterling was mounted on Dillashaw’s back and throwing strikes to the head, winning by TKO stoppage.
After the fight was over, it became apparent that T.J. had dislocated entirely one of his shoulders early in the fight.
It’s something he had surgery to fix, but it seems that it could never regain the same stability, and it pushed him to retire from MMA.
UFC 273 (Vs Petr Yan)
At UFC 273, Aljamain walked out to Farruko by Pepas, followed by his usual I Love by Joyner Lucas.
It was his rematch with Petr Yan that the fans demanded since Sterling won their first fight with a sketchy illegal knee.
For the second time dancing around the octagon, Sterling was much more convincing.
Aljamain did a great job of frustrating Petr by side-stepping swiftly around the octagon in big circles, making it extremely difficult for the Russian to connect with any clear shots.
Whenever the distance closed slightly, Sterling would throw a big kick to the open body of Yan and then fire a takedown if things got too close for comfort.
While Petr Yan managed to land a few good combinations in the pocket, Aljamain Sterling managed to spend a lot of the fight accomplishing takedowns and sitting on the back of Yan.
Aljamain won the fight comfortably by decision after five grueling rounds of constant pace.
Say what you want about Sterling, but he has the stamina of a bloodhound.
UFC 259 (Vs Petr Yan)
When Sterling walked out to face Yan for the first time at UFC 259, he entered with his favorite song; I Love by Joyner Lucas.
This was that controversial fight in which Aljamain Sterling won by Petr’s disqualification due to an illegal knee.
Petr was frankly dominating Aljamain in that fight as he couldn’t keep up with his boxing and wasn’t getting the takedowns he relied on.
In an odd transition, Aljamain was slowly returning to his fight but was still considered “grounded” and received an illegal knee to the face from Petr.
At the time, and still, to this day, fans and pundits debate the decision.
UFC 250 (Vs. Cory Sandhagen)
The “Funk Master” entered his UFC 250 fight against Cory Sandhagen to his regular song choice, I Love by Joyner Lucas.
Both Cory and Aljamain were on their way up the ranks at the time, and it was a prime grappler vs. striker situation.
Cory threw a leg kick to the body of Aljamain early in the first round, which was caught and secured a straightforward takedown for the “Funk Master.”
It was maybe less than a minute later, and Sterling had already won the back position of Sandhagen and swiftly choked him out with a rear naked choke.
More walkout songs
Now you know about Sterling’s song choices and a little bit of his recent fight history, check out the complete list of UFC walkout songs or these specific fighters for more: