Aljamain Sterling: UFC's Sean O'Malley Not The "Big Draw That He Thinks He Is"

Aljamain Sterling is perplexed by Sean O'Malley's overwhelming popularity with UFC fans

(Craig Kidwell-USA TODAY Sports)

UFC Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling believes that Sean O'Malley "is definitely the No. 1 contender" but, "he's not this big draw he thinks he is."

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Sterling told

MMAJunkie

, "Sean O’Malley is definitely the No. 1 contender, so he’s going to get the next fight.

"But he’s not this big draw that he thinks he is, if he was a big of a draw as he says he was, he would have done bigger numbers than Bo Nickal did on [Dana White's Contender Series].

"I think we all know that's not the case. So in his universe, he thinks he's this big guy. But this is the Aljamain Sterling show."

Despite Sterling's comments, O'Malley maintains roughly eight times Nickal's social media reach on Instagram alone. O'Malley quadruples Sterling's reach too.

However, since the UFC doesn't disclose fighter pay or event revenue, it can't be said for certain whether O'Malley has the "bigger numbers."

Sterling went on to assess O'Malley's character, and outlined his confusion with the public's "infatuation" with "Suga":

"He's a funny dude when he wants to be .... I don't get the infatuation with him, like in terms of his personality.

"When he talks, I don't get what the big deal is about him."

"Funkmaster" then compared O'Malley's wit to that of Conor McGregor's:

"I get the Conor [McGregor] thing. The stuff he says is funny; It's witty. [O'Malley] ain't saying no s*** like that. He's just talking. I guess it's the colorful hair, the face tattoos. He's got some serious skills I guess."

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Aljamain Sterling: "One or Two" Fights Left at Bantamweight, Then Moving Up

During an interview with InsideFighting on April 11, Sterling discussed his bantamweight plans prior to his UFC 288 showdown with Henry Cejudo.

Sterling highlighted plans to move up and challenge for the featherweight throne, as long as all went well with his final "one or two" fights at bantamweight:

"One [or] two. I think two [more fights at bantamweight] at the most .... and then It'll be up to featherweight and we'll see how I do with these guys over there."

Now having defeated Cejudo at UFC 288, Sterling has used up one of those two theoretical last fights. If he's still following that same gameplan, a bout against O'Malley could be the last fans see of Sterling at 135 Lbs.

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