Sean O'Malley hasn't got the formula to be more than "wannabe, knockoff" Conor McGregor: Aljamain Sterling
Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley are set to lock horns for the UFC bantamweight championship at UFC 292 in August. Heading into the bout, there's a running narrative that the UFC wants O'Malley to win and Sterling is motivated to derail the budding superstar's hype train.
Speaking about the same in a recently uploaded video on his YouTube channel, Sterling claimed that even though the promotion is pushing hard for O'Malley to emerge as a massive pay-per-view draw like Conor McGregor, 'Sugar' is just a "wannabe knockoff" of the former two-division champion.
'Funk Master' said:
“I do think the UFC does want that [O'Malley as champion]. Then, when [O'Malley's coach Tim Welch] started going into his reasonings of why [the UFC wants O’Malley to be champion], and started calling him a knockout artist. Like, not saying he’s never knocked anybody out, but it’s just very different now that he’s swimming with the big boys in the deep end."
The UFC bantamweight champion added:
"We haven’t quite seen these magic knockouts. This, wannabe, knockoff, Conor McGregor, that was the trajectory he was on. But for some reason, people don’t got the formula or the juice to be Conor.”
Catch Aljamain Sterling's comments below (16:53):
Tim Welch claims the UFC wants Sean O'Malley to become the bantamweight champion
Sean O'Malley was last seen in action against Petr Yan in October last year. He earned his title shot with a split-decision victory and has been on the sidelines ever since, working on his grappling. Meanwhile, the champion, Aljamain Sterling, will be looking to execute an incredible turnaround after his recent title defense against Henry Cejudo.
O'Malley's head coach Tim Welch recently claimed that the UFC hopes to see 'Funk Master' get dethroned by 'Sugar', citing how having a flashy and popular KO artist like O'Malley as champion further boosts revenue for the company. During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Welch said:
"Having 'Sugar' be the champion... I mean, what other bantamweight in history has just one-punched people and walked off like Mark Hunt?"
Sean O'Malley's coach added:
"A bantamweight that's a tall, skinny kid with tattoos and curly hair one-punching people and walking off. The UFC knows what they're doing. 'Sugar' is a big superstar and the UFC helped with that so I'm sure the UFC would love to see a KO artist that's as flashy as Sean be the champion."
Watch the full interview below: