Kevin Dantzler has bold prediction against Aljamain Sterling at FURY Professional Grappling 8: 'Expect to see a submission, and don't be surprised if it's quick'
Dantzler has high praise for former UFC champ but believes he's out of his element in pure grappling bout on UFC FIGHT PASS.
Kevin Dantzler and Aljamain Sterling have been on a collision course for more than two years now, but the Jonavin Webb black belt says once the two actually hit the mats, the contest might not take long.
"If you watch his fights – and I don't watch his fights like that – but the few I've seen, he uses striking on the ground to make his positional advancements," Dantzler said of Sterling. "When he gets the back, it's usually like against the cage or something. He's not using straight jiu-jitsu – like his striking on the ground is making his positions work, so straight jiu-jitsu, it's going to be so much different. That's why it kind of cracks me up that people think I'm the underdog in this one because it's completely different. It's just completely different.
"Obviously he's incredible. He's a UFC champ, but he'll see that it's just not the same. Like it's not remotely the same at all."
Dantzler first earned Sterling's attention at FURY Professional Grappling 2. In that 2021 clash, Dantzler was awarded a decision win over Sterling's teammate, Merab Dvalishvili, in the night's main event, a rather spirited affair between a grappler who prefers to work from a seated position and a high-energy wrestler he was hoping his opponent would engage him on the feet.
"Merab was interesting, man," Dantzler recalled. "He was just telling me to stand, and I'm like, 'You want top position? I'm giving you top position, so I don't know what you're complaining about,' but yeah, it was interesting. It was interesting, and it was fun. I live for hard matches like that."
Sterling was openly critical of Dantzler's style and made it clear he wanted his shot, though as the reigning UFC bantamweight champion, scheduling made that difficult. However, Dantzler has stayed busy in the organization in the time since, amassing an incredible 5-0 record under the FURY Professional Grappling banner.
"I think it's just the best superfight organization in the world – I really do," Dantzler said. "The rule set is really good. There's a lot of organizations with just weird rule sets that have weird criteria. This is positionally advantages, submission advantages. It's just who's being more aggressive, and I think that's just my style of jiu-jitsu. I'm coming after you every second, and so I think it gears toward my style, that's for sure."
Now, the timing is finally right for the match both competitors have wanted for the past two years, as Dantzler and Sterling collide in the main event of Saturday's FURY Professional Grappling 8, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena.
Dantzler said he's approaching the matchup like he would any other grappling competition but admits there's certainly an added element of excitement to the contest.
"After the Merab match, Aljo called for it, and he's talking a bunch of nonsense on Twitter and 'butt-scooter this' and 'butt-scooter that,' so I was super, super excited for this match," Dantzler said. "Warranted, he wasn't able to do it before because he was the UFC champion at the time, which is definitely more important, but I'm glad that we can have it now, and yeah, I'm ready for this one. I've been waiting for this one for a minute, so I'm super excited."
Saturday's event is filled with notable names from the UFC, CFFC and submission grappling worlds, and featured matchups such as Chris Daukaus vs. Alexandr Romanov, Pat Sabatini vs. Niko Price and Kyle Daukaus vs. Eryk Anders seem sure to please. But a little added emotion always adds something to a high-level combat-sports matchup of any kind, submission grappling included, and there's certainly some bragging rights on the line in this main event.
Dantzler says you already know exactly what to expect from him when the action starts, and he isn't planning on altering his strategy because of any criticism of his style. He also believes that trademarked approach is simply going to be a little too much for Sterling.
"Why do people do takedowns? To get top position, right?" Dantzler asked. "I'm giving you top position, so what are you complaining about? It just doesn't make any sense to me. The reason people say this is because they don't know how to pass. They don't know how to pass guard. They don't know how to do submissions. Like, I'm the one chasing after them on bottom.
"People are just ignorant. They don't know, and they watch certain things. They say, 'It's not martial arts.' Well, we'll see what's martial arts when I can literally snap your limb in half, so yeah, it's just silly, but I don't care. It cracks me up. He cracks me up. He was doing the weird butt-scooting thing, and yes, it was funny, but you know, he'll see what's funny on the 30th.
"It's going to be a good match. Expect to see excitement, no stalling, no messing around, and expect to see a submission, that's for sure. Expect to see a submission, and don't be surprised if it's quick."
