- Michael Bisping thinks Aljamain Sterling has been remarkable so far to lose against Sean O’Malley
- “The Count” believes “Sugar” would have troubles trying to figure out “Funk Master”
UFC 292 Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley is just days away from happening and Michael Bisping could already see how the fight could possibly play out. For “The Count,” the reigning bantamweight champ has all the advantages and it’s gonna be difficult for “Sugar” to turn things around.
The champ is tough to beat
Speaking on Bisping and Smith’s Believe You Me podcast, the former UFC middleweight champion said he sees Sterling coming in as the better overall fighter. Bisping also pointed out that “Funk Master” has been at his peak lately and it would be a huge factor for him come fight night.
“I think Aljamain is tremendous at what he does and I and I’m leaning towards him because of his skill set, because of his history, the form that he’s on and the way he out wrestled Henry Cejudo was so impressive,” Bisping assessed.
Sean needs to do a lot of things
On the other hand, Bisping speculated that O’Malley would be in for one of, if not the toughest fight of his career. The way “The Count” sees it, “Sugar” would need to do a wide array of things while maintaining consistency and high-quality work rate, something that is “very very hard” to pull off.
“Sean O’Malley, I think he probably is a major disadvantage so he’s got to use footwork, switching stances, he’s going to dance around, circular movement, perpetual motion, lateral movement, use the range, use the reach, minimize kicks, lots of Jabs, lots of one-twos, you’ve got to do that – A: That’s a frustrating way to fight as a fighter inside yourself, you don’t want to be avoiding the fight right, so that kind of goes against your mindset as a fighter as well. B: To do that consistently for 25 minutes, is a very very hard thing and it will cause the crowd to start booing and like that as well,” Bisping explained.
O’Malley is well aware that beating Sterling is no walk in the park. He previously admitted that Aljo is the “toughest” challenge of his career and he needs to have zero tolerance for error during the fight. Sterling, meanwhile, will be coming in fresh off his third successful title defense at UFC 288 against Cejudo.
