"I'm super interested in that fight" - Sean O'Malley excited for Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling 2
Sean O’Malley has expressed his excitement for the upcoming rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. ‘Sugar’ weighed in on both fighters' respective performances in their first fight and gave his take on the rematch.
In an edition of The BrOMalley Show, Sean O’Malley and his brother, Daniel O’Malley, discussed multiple topics. In regards to the Sterling-Yan feud, they harked back to the duo’s first fight.
The first fight witnessed Sterling defeat Yan via DQ (Disqualification) and win the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 259 in March 2021, courtesy of Yan hitting Sterling with an illegal knee when the latter was down on the mat.
The doctor has called off the fight after speaking to Aljamain Sterling, who was struck with an illegal knee by Petr Yan at #UFC259 https://t.co/oRLduQfraV
The O’Malley brothers suggested that Sterling outworked Yan in the early stages of the fight with a higher volume of strikes, while Yan had the power advantage and even knocked ‘Funk Master’ down. Sean O’Malley added that while Sterling was seemingly outworking Yan, he wasn’t inflicting any significant damage. ‘Sugar’ stated:
“It was weird though because it didn’t seem like ‘Aljo’ was actually doing any damage. He (Sterling) had a very high output. Petr had really good defense.” O’Malley added, “That’s just kind of his style. And it’s like, who knows like, who knows how he’s feeling. I mean, if he could keep that pace that entire 25 minutes, Petr didn’t really have an answer too much for like that chaotic – I mean, he just had good defense, wasn’t getting shot; would land a couple shots here and there. I don’t know. I’m super interested in that fight.”
On that note, ‘Sugar’ recently outlined his own plans to become the UFC bantamweight champion. Sean O’Malley envisions himself knocking out Pedro Munhoz, Rob Font, and Petr Yan en route to capturing UFC gold.
Watch Sean O’Malley address the Sterling-Yan rematch in the video below:
Aljamain Sterling on his rematch against Petr Yan at UFC 273
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling is set to face interim UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan in a rematch at UFC 273 on April 9th. The winner of this clash between the two rivals will emerge as the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion.
In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Aljamain Sterling opened up about his much-awaited UFC 273 fight. Recalling his spectacular first-round submission win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 on June 6, 2020, Sterling indicated that he intends to similarly secure a dominant victory over Yan at UFC 273. Sterling said:
"It's either I am full of sh**, or this guy is gonna get walked. The way I am feeling right now, I think this fight will be as dominant as the fight against (Cory) Sandhagen."