Aljamain Sterling dares Sean O'Malley to fight 'real bantamweight contenders'

Aljamain Sterling has dared Sean O’Malley to prove his mettle by fighting a top contender at 135lbs.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Sterling was asked about Sean O’Malley’s recent comments where ‘Sugar’ claimed that Sterling lacks the star power to headline his own UFC card.

'Funk Master' responded by stating:

“O’Malley’s gonna do what O’Malley does, which is just talk. He talks a big game. But we come to find out that he’s a lot of talk, a lot of bark and no bite. The last time he tried to bite off more than he can chew, what happened? He did the broke leg dance.”

Sterling referenced O’Malley’s mid-fight leg injury that led to his first round TKO loss against Marlon Vera at UFC 252 in August 2020. He noted that although O’Malley lost due to a freak injury, the fact remains that he was beaten by the first legitimate bantamweight contender he fought.

He opined that O’Malley’s latest fight, a win over the unranked Raulian Paiva, shouldn’t garner ‘Sugar’ any hype. Sterling recalled that as an up-and-coming fighter, he wasn’t booked in favorable stylistic matchups.

He reiterated that unlike ‘Sugar’, he’s consistently fought top-5 or top-10 opponents at bantamweight.

‘Funk Master’ said:

“So, O’Malley, if you wanna keep talking like this, step up to the plate and fight somebody – I don’t wanna say good but – fight someone that’s a contender, a real contender. You know what I mean? So, we can see how good he really is. I mean, Ricky Simon’s been calling him out. Merab [Dvalishvili] has been calling him out. A lot of guys have been calling him out; [Brian] Kelleher’s been calling him out. Fight somebody, bro. Fight somebody.”

Watch Aljamain Sterling sound off on Sean O’Malley below:

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Sean O’Malley on Aljamain Sterling’s rematch against Petr Yan

Aljamain Sterling won the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 259 in March 2021. However, Sterling only won the bout after Petr Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee in the fourth round.

UFC bantamweight champion Sterling is now set to face interim UFC bantamweight champion Yan in a rematch at UFC 273 on April 9th.

Meanwhile, the No.12-ranked UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley recently appeared on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast and emphasized that Sterling ought to pace himself better in the rematch. O’Malley opined that Sterling has the skill-set to beat Yan.

‘Sugar’ explained:

“If you watch Petr's [Yan] fights, you know he's gonna cruise for a little bit... try to figure out and then start putting the pressure in the later rounds... Aljamain Sterling's got to see that, got to recognize that and come in with a different gameplan.”