Aljamain Sterling believes his UFC 292 fight against Sean O’Malley was stopped prematurely.
On Saturday, August 19, O’Malley shocked the world by securing a TKO finish against Sterling to become the UFC bantamweight champion. The fight-ending sequence started with ‘Sugar’ landing a picture-perfect counter right hand before following up with ground and pound, leading to referee Marc Goddard stepping in.
During an appearance on Bradley Martyn’s Raw Talk, Sterling reflected on the loss against O’Malley by saying:
“There was no point where I was like, where I am?…[I was thinking] this is a bad situation, I need to get the f*ck out of here. I can hear him [Marc Goddard] talking to me like, ‘Show me something.’ I’m like, alright, so I’m thinking, my roll is me showing you that I’m still in the fight…I was still with the situation. Yeah, granted, I got cracked. I got rocked. That’s no mistake about it.”
In August 2020, O’Malley suffered his only professional MMA loss when Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera knocked him out by ground and pound in the first round. Sterling used the UFC 252 fight as an example to compare why his loss at UFC 292 was premature:
“I’m gonna compare this one to Sean O’Malley. O’Malley fights Chito Vera, the whole thing with his foot. He’s in his guard. Chito hits him with a hammer fist and an elbow, O’Malley goes limp. Literally like he’s floating in the river and just trying to float and comes back maybe twice. And the last one, I think he’s out and comes back again. That’s completely different. That never once happened in this fight [at UFC 292].”
SEAN O’MALLEY DID THAT! 🤯 #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/vI0dSi1rFC
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 20, 2023
Aljamain Sterling believes he beats Sean O’Malley eight or nine out of ten times
Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley have voiced their respect for one another since the end of UFC 292. With that said, Sterling maintains his belief that he would dominate O’Malley in a ten-fight series. ‘Funk Master’ had this to say while talking to Bradley Martyn:
“It’s one of those things. It’s yin and yang. He’s so good at what he does, I’m so good at what I do, and that’s what happens when you get to the top of your game. It’s a game of inches. I said it. If we fought nine out of ten times, he probably beats me one or two out of ten.”
Before losing at UFC 292, Sterling had consistently teased a move up to featherweight. The former bantamweight king has since switched gears as he’s begun pursuing a rematch against O’Malley.
It’ll be intriguing to see if the UFC decides to give ‘Funk Master’ a chance to regain the 135-pound throne or take the division in another direction.
