Michael Chiesa explains why Sean O'Malley vs. Aljamain Sterling isn't the next fight to make
Michael Chiesa argued that Sean O'Malley shouldn't get the next title shot against Aljamain Sterling.
O'Malley skyrocketed from No.11 to the top spot in the UFC bantamweight rankings after upsetting Petr Yan at UFC 280. But as far as Chiesa is concerned, the UFC should not waste their efforts in trying to build O'Malley up just to have him lose to a terrible stylistic matchup.
During the UFC 280 post-fight reaction show, Chiesa explained why he believes is better off steering clear of Sterling's path. The welterweight contender opined:
"If you're the UFC and you wanna put Sean O'Malley in a title fight, you want to put him in a fight that favors him. And I don't think Aljamain Sterling is a favorable matchup. Honestly, I'm going out on a limb and say the worst matchups for O'Malley at 135 pounds are Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling. Now if he wants to pass that test to get to a title fight, maybe he fights Merab."
Check out the video below:
Instead, Chiesa pitched that Sterling should fight former two-division champion Henry Cejudo – who has been teasing a return to the octagon for several months now.
At the UFC 280 post-fight press conference, Dana White's comments suggested that he's to be on board with the idea of letting Cejudo challenge for the bantamweight gold.
Sean O'Malley expects UFC contract renegotiation after beating Petr Yan
After passing the toughest test of his career, Sean O'Malley believes that he deserves a more lucrative UFC contract.
O’Malley previously said before the fight that a win over Yan could raise his stock in the same way that Conor McGregor did after toppling Jose Aldo. O'Malley is under no illusion that the circumstances are exactly comparable. But at the very least, 'Sugar' thinks he deserves a pay bump.
During the UFC 280 post-fight press conference, O'Malley said:
"What’s considered a Conor-Aldo moment? Do I have to knock someone out in 13 seconds? Because that’s to be hard to do. But as far as blowing up, I don’t know, we’ll have to see the going next couple of weeks. I can almost guarantee I’m going to go sit down and renegotiate my contract after that. It could be."
Watch Sean O'Malley's press conference in the clip below: