Aljamain Sterling challenges Sean O’Malley to “stop deflecting and fight the next best guy” in latest social media back-and-forth

Aljamain Sterling is putting his best effort into placing his close friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC bantamweight title picture.

Often releasing his thoughts on his podcast, The Weekly Scraps, Sterling incited a reaction from O'Malley with his recent comments on the UFC 299 main event. The former bantamweight champion scoffed at O'Malley's callout of Ilia Topuria following his win over Marlon Vera, demanding that his former opponent face his teammate and no. 1 contender, Dvalishvili.

Sterling said:

"[Sean O'Malley] should've called out Merab [at UFC 299] and did the right thing. I think it's kind of ridiculous for him to say: 'Dana, can you get the jet to Spain?' What are you talking about dude? You defended the belt against a guy who wasn't even ranked in the top five. They moved him up to the top five to make it look like it was better."

'Suga' nonchalantly responded to the video by taking a direct shot at Sterling with a blatant reference to his knockout win over 'The Funk Master' at UFC 292.

Sterling did not let the response go without his own rebuttal and doubled down, instructing the champion to "fight the next best guy" and "stop deflecting".

Sterling's full response read:

"'Lolz' yes, true men handicap their opponents and then pat their chest. What a bada**! As I said, good win. Now be a man for once, stop deflecting, and fight the next best guy. Merab."

Along with his post-fight callout of featherweight champion Topuria, O'Malley briefly mentioned he would be accepting a fight with Dvalishvili if the UFC offered it to him.

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How did Aljamain Sterling react to the loss to Sean O'Malley at UFC 292?

Aljamain Sterling has a strong case for being the most disrespected UFC champion in promotional history. He is one of a small handful of long-reigning champions not to receive an immediate rematch upon losing the belt.

Though Sterling briefly called for a rematch with Sean O'Malley following UFC 292, the former champion has since moved up to featherweight, scheduled to make his debut on UFC 300 against Calvin Kattar.

In a social media post immediately following the loss to O'Malley, Sterling gave the new champion two options: either to run it back against him or to fight Merab Dvalishvili.

O'Malley ended up doing neither and instead made his first title defense against Marlon Vera to avenge his lone career loss, thus frustrating both Sterling and Dvalishvili.