Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling announced that his UFC 292 fight with Sean O'Malley is 99 percent likely to be his last in the weight class. “This is more than likely my last fight at 135. There’s a 99 percent chance it’s my last. If I win this, for sure, I’m out of here.” It's something Sterling has hinted at for a while and it's a decision that comes with a number of pros as well as cons. We'll be taking a look at some of those pros and cons to ultimately determine whether Aljamain Sterling is making the right move.

The pros of Aljamain Sterling moving up

The biggest pro for Sterling moving up is he will no longer have to cut down to 135 pounds. The American is now 34 and as every fighter gets older, it gets more and more difficult to cut down the weight which is why fighters tend to gradually move up as they age. It's especially the case for Sterling whose normal weight is around 165 to 170 pounds.

“It’s Merab’s time, man. And the second part of that is, I’m a little bit over cutting weight, this much weight. I walk around 165, 170 [pounds]. I think I could hold that frame relatively better, and I think my conditioning and everything could actually go up a little bit more, back to when I was younger, where I was cutting less.

“I’m 34 now, so I think I just wanna get ahead of it before it gets ahead of me.”

Speaking of Merab Dvalishvili, Sterling moving up opens up the division a lot more. Dvalishvili is the clear No. 1 contender, but because he's teammates with Sterling, the pair refuse to fight each other. This not only creates a roadblock in the division, but could ultimately lead to tension between Sterling and Dvalishvili. How strong is their friendship, truly, that Dvalishvili can continue foregoing a title shot as long as Sterling is champion?

Finally, it would be the right time to move up for Sterling. With a win over O'Malley — especially a statement-making one — he'd have won his last 10 fights in the division and given the names on his resume as well as recency bias, there's a good chance many would regard “Funk Master” as the best bantamweight of all time.

The cons of Aljamain Sterling moving up

It might seem weird to state that there are cons after mentioning the pros above. However, there are some.

For starters, Sterling will naturally be facing tougher competition as he'll be fighting bigger opponents at featherweight. He won't have as much of a height or reach advantage that he currently enjoys at 135. Not to mention, he'll be facing more powerful opponents capable of turning the lights off.

Given his standing as a champion, Sterling would likely require just one win to get a featherweight title shot if not an immediate one. But it's hard to see him offering much of a challenge to current 145-pound king Alexander Volkanovski. While Sterling has the height and reach advantage there, his only real shot is if he's able to take Volkanovski down and as displayed in the Islam Makhachev fight, it's not an easy task whatsoever. And it's not like Sterling had an easy time taking down the much smaller Cejudo down either.

All that said, Sterling is a competitive fighter and these factors shouldn't deter him from moving up to 145, especially given his struggles in cutting the weight. But the main con of Sterling moving up is not cementing his legacy at 135 pounds.

As aforementioned, with recency bias and his overall resume, there's a chance many regard Sterling as the bantamweight GOAT. However, Sterling is still yet to receive the respect he deserves as a champion and part of that is how dubious some of his wins as a champion have come. We all know how he won the title via disqualification. His rematch with Petr Yan as well as his win over Cejudo were very close as well with many observers believing he should have lost. Then there's the asterisk with his TKO win over TJ Dillashaw with the former champion dislocating his shoulder early on. When contextualized, Sterling's reign as a champion hasn't really been that impressive. If he has another close and competitive fight with O'Malley where he gets the win, not many will label him as the division's GOAT.

Now, whether Sterling cares about that unofficial accolade remains to be seen. Getting the win and his long-term health will naturally be his priority. But if he truly wants to cement his legacy as the best 135-pounder of all time, he should consider staying in the division a bit longer. There are certainly fights for him that could cement his legacy such as a potential second win over Sandhagen, Marlon Vera and Song Yadong. The only question is those fights interest him enough.