UFC Fight Night 88: Bryan Caraway believes 'insecure' Aljamain Sterling is afraid to get punched

When I was in Junior High School, everyone feared the campus bully whole talked a big game. But when someone finally stepped to him and started swinging, he couldn't find a desk big enough to hide under, as you could tell he'd never really been punched in the face.

That's kind of what Bryan Caraway thinks of Aljamain Sterling -- minus the bully part.

As Caraway recently told MMA Junkie, Sterling talks quite a bit to pump himself up and hide his insecurities. Furthermore, while Aljamain is a talented athlete, you can see he's not too fond of getting punched in the face.

And when the two of them collide later tonight (May 29, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 88 in Las Vegas, Nevada (details), Bryan wants to show his foe he bit off way more than he can chew.

"I really believe that's a reflection of his inner emotions. One minute he feels himself being scared, intimated, thinking in his head, ‘Man, did I bite off more than I can chew? I thought I got a safe fight. I thought I got a guy who was just gonna wrestle and grapple me' - until he starts digging deeper and finding out things about my past, things people don't know about, like fighting in no-holds barred (fights) - bare-knuckle gloves. When you know somebody's willing to go through that, it kind of changes things a bit."

He continues:

"I think him with his outbursts of (expletive) talking, I think that's his own insecurities trying to pump himself up. He feels himself slipping a little bit - you can clearly see the guy's afraid to get punched. I'm not taking away that he's an athlete - he's clearly an athlete. He's No. 4 in the world for a reason. But I don't think the guy's a fighter in his heart. I think he's a good athlete. I think he knows that and he's realizing this is going to be a fight and not just a grappling/wrestling match. That's the result of him trying to pump himself up."

As you can tell by their weigh-in staredown, there is no love lost between the two Bantamweight fighters.

And you can't blame Caraway, either, as Sterling has made it a point to mock him and his relationship with UFC women's Bantamweight champ, Miesha Tate, at every turn.

Will he be forced to eat his words in "Sin City?"