Aljamain Sterling Sends Blunt Message To Sean O'Malley Following UFC 292 Loss
Just days after losing his bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292, Aljamain Sterling has officially called for the two men to rematch next year.
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“Funk Master” had already defended his bantamweight title on three occasions when he met O’Malley in the main event of UFC 292 in Boston, but the 34-year-old was caught by a perfect counter right hand in the second round before he was stopped with ground strikes.
Sterling indicated ahead of UFC 292 that he intended to move up to featherweight regardless of the result of his fight with O’Malley, but now that the former champion has had a few days to process the loss it appears he’s reconsidered that plan.
“Rematch 2024. Game of inches. I’ll be back.” - Sterling said.
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“Sugar” has already been discussing prospective challengers for his first title defense, but considering that Sterling established himself as arguably the GOAT of the bantamweight division during his title reign it would be hard to deny him an immediate rematch.
Sterling’s plan to stay at bantamweight does create a difficult situation for his friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili, who is now ranked as the division’s #2 contender but was apparently waiting for “Funk Master” to leave the weight class before challenging for the title himself.
It will also be interesting to see how much say O’Malley has regarding his next opponent, as the 28-year-old has already suggested matchups with Henry Cejudo, Cory Sandhagen, or a rematch with Marlon Vera as potential options for his first title defense.
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