Aljamain Sterling expects to face Sean O'Malley for the title next based upon the UFC's no.1 contender claims
Aljamain Sterling expects his next title defense to be against Sean O'Malley after the latter's impressive performance against Petr Yan.
While Aljamain Sterling will defend his title later the same night, UFC 280 may have also produced the next bantamweight contender in Sean O'Malley. 'Sugar' went toe-to-toe with Petr Yan in what was the biggest and toughest fight of his MMA career so far.
Prior to stepping into the octagon, Yan was sitting as the No.1 ranked bantamweight, with O'Malley ranked 10 places lower. The pair delivered the Fight of the Night as they went to war. Both fighters had their moments, rocking each other, and the final bell ended with both men beaten and bloodied. O'Malley won via a razor-close split decision.
Sean O’Malley had Petr Yan in the biggest trouble of his career right here https://t.co/ZSWp5Tz32a
In an interview with ESPN MMA, Aljamain Sterling revealed that he expects to face Sean O'Malley in the octagon next. He believes it will make more money than if he fights Henry Cejudo:
"Sugar Sean, sign the contract. That's my guy, there is no contract though. If there's a guy I could pick, I'd pick Sugar. I think he's the biggest fight, he's the most active and be beat the number one guy, a former champion.I don't see how you can backtrack after saying the winner of their fight gets the next crack at the title. For me, It's Sean O'Malley."
Catch the full interview here:
Sean O'Malley reacts to Israel Adesanya's stoppage at UFC 281
Sean O'Malley recently weighed in on the controversial stoppage by Marc Goddard during Israel Adesanya's title defense vs. Alex Pereira.
The veteran referee waved the fight off in the fifth round after Adesanya was deemed to be taking too much damage. Hence, the new middleweight champ, Alex Pereira, was crowned.
Adesanya initially appeared upset at the stoppage and many have argued that the former champ was still lucid. According to O'Malley, however, he believes it may have saved 'The Last Stylebender' some permanent damage.
Alex Pereira ends the Israel Adesanya reign https://t.co/ONEgbNmUY2
On the latest episode of the Timbo Sugar Show, O'Malley, alongside his coach Tim Welch, gave their take on UFC 281's main event:
"I liked the stoppage just because I like 'Izzy' so much. If you don't like 'Izzy,' you're like, 'Early stoppage!' Because, dude, that was trending in a bad way. I would have rather seen it be an early stoppage than see 'Izzy' get KO'd and take two years off his career potentially. Like, a fat, like a clean, like that Frankie [Edgar] KO would've been bad for 'Izzy.'"
Catch the show here: