"It was like a dream" - Sean O'Malley opens up about overcoming fears ahead of his title fight against Aljamain Sterling
Sean O'Malley recently opened up about how he overcame fears ahead of his title fight against Aljamain Sterling, which saw him earn an incredible second-round TKO to become the new UFC bantamweight champion.
During his appearance on The Breakfast Club, the reigning bantamweight champion revealed that he suffered a rib injury that sidelined him for six weeks of his training camp. He added that it resulted in some underlying fears going into UFC 292, but he was able to overcome them as the fight approached.
He said:
"As long as I don't get a serious injury, like I'll be alright. So, I had some mental demons I'd say battling that going into that fight but by the time the fight came around, I accept it. Whatever happens happens, I know what I'm capable of, I know that I could put this dude's lights out, and I just trusted that and believed in myself." [9:10 - 9:32]
Sean O'Malley then brought up the emotions he still feels knowing how his fight against Aljamain Sterling played out. He stated that it is still a surreal feeling and that he often reminds himself that he did, in fact, earn a knockout win and is the reigning UFC bantamweight champion.
O'Malley said:
"It was like a dream. I still sometimes feel like I'm going to wake up and be like, 'Fu*k, I still gotta go out there and do that.'...I feel like I always knew I could do that but to go out there and do it, it's different and it gave me a lot of confidence." [9:33 - 9:52]
It will be interesting to see how Sean O'Malley performs in his next bout as he looks to avenge his lone career loss to Marlon Vera at UFC 299.
Check out the full video below:
Sean O'Malley names Petr Yan as the hardest hitter he fought
Sean O'Malley vs. Petr Yan was a highly anticipated bout and was one that established 'Sugar' as a legitimate bantamweight contender.
During the aforementioned appearance, the reigning UFC bantamweight champion noted that Yan was the hardest hitter he had come across in his career. He added that the former bantamweight champion landed a left hook that was the hardest he had been hit in his career, saying:
"The hardest I've been hit, I thought Petr Yan, this little Russian number-one ranked dude, I fought him in Abu Dhabi last October...I remember eating that left hand and that was the hardest I had been hit." [7:57 - 8:21]
