Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling is considering hanging up his 4oz gloves following his UFC 310 loss to the unbeaten featherweight title contender Mosvar Evloev. 

Sterling, 35, was outpointed (29-28 x3) by the surging Russian contender in what was a fascinating grappling battle at last weekend’s fight card in Los Angeles in what was the New Yorker’s second defeat in his past 12 — with the other coming against then-bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley in August of last year.

And with the summit of the featherweight division — to which he moved following that loss to O’Malley — looking increasingly above the clouds following that loss, Sterling has said that the prospect of his stepping away from the sport is looking likely.

“At 35, I don’t know if I wanna climb the ladder all over again,” Sterling said on his personal YouTube channel. “The end goal is so much further away. Is that worth the time invested, the surgeries, the pain… I don’t want to retire but I’ve got to see what the UFC offers and then kind of make a decision from there,” he added, in remarks noted by Bloody Elbow.

Sterling also described how his preparation for the Evloev fight was less than ideal, given that he began feeling ill after consuming a sports drink in the minutes before the bout.

“I drank a PRIME, I don’t know what happened, it turned my stomach and I thought I was good, and then I felt like I had to yack in the back,” he said.

“When they called us to go down in the back tunnel, I’m like ‘Hold on bro’, as they started doing the intro I’m like, ‘Is there a bucket because I need to puke all over this floor’,” he added.