Aljamain Sterling is not a fan of Marlon Vera possibly receiving a UFC bantamweight title shot against Sean O’Malley next.
When O’Malley scored a second-round TKO victory over Sterling to capture the 135-pound gold, many were convinced that an immediate rematch would be out of the question. Most assumed that the “Sugar” show would want to avenge his 2020 loss to “Chito” Vera regardless of whether or not he actually deserves a title fight. O’Malley has indeed confirmed that his preference is to fight Vera next, although the UFC has not made “Sugar’s” first title defense official.
Aljamain Sterling Blasts Sean O’Malley’s Call For “Chito” Vera Rematch
During an appearance on “The MMA Hour,” Aljamain Sterling told Ariel Helwani that if Vera gets the next UFC bantamweight title shot, it would be a WWE-type move on the UFC’s part.
“Chito’s number six, dude,” Sterling said. “Yeah there’s a storyline, but we signed with WWE where we merged, why are we making this a WWE sport? It’s not the WWE, and I get the business model thing. I’m just saying as a pure sports fanatic myself, I watch the fights week in and week out. I hate this model. I’ve learned to kind of just embrace it and try to do my best to make it a character and persona, and try to be more engaging with the fans to kind of give that feel because that’s what the company wants.”
Sterling then suggested that Merab Dvalishvili should be getting the first crack at O’Malley before the year is up.
“The fact that we’re going, we’re gonna skip over everybody else and go to number six when there’s a guy who literally, let’s be honest, kicked Petr Yan’s ass way worse than I did, way worse than Sean O’Malley did,” Sterling said. “Why is he not next? There’s a storyline, he still has the jacket. If you’re gonna do December, Merab is ready.”
Here is the clip of Aljamain Sterling going off on the idea of Marlon Vera receiving a UFC title shot:
Aljamain Sterling on who Sean O'Malley should fight next.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/t1fstbE1kA
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 20, 2023
