BREAKING: Two Huge Title Fights Announced For UFC’s Return To Boston At UFC 292

Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O'Malley and Weili Zhang vs. Amanda Lemos are set for UFC 292.

Drew Beaupré | May 16, 2023

BREAKING: Two Huge Title Fights Announced For UFC’s Return To Boston At UFC 292 /

The UFC’s long-awaited return to Boston at UFC 292 will be topped by a pair of fantastic title fights, with Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley set to headline and Weili Zhang vs. Amanda Lemos tabbed for the card’s co-main event.

Not to be outdone by Francis Ngannou’s announcement from earlier in the day that the former UFC heavyweight champion was signing with the PFL, on Tuesday night Dana White went live on Instagram to announce a massive slate of fights for this summer.

Boston we are BACK and we're bringing two titles fights with us!! 🏆@FunkMasterMMA vs @SugaSeanMMA @MMAWeili vs Amanda Lemos

Official for #UFC292 on August 19th! pic.twitter.com/YIX2bVv3iW
— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2023

UFC 292 will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight featuring Aljamain Sterling defending his belt against the #2-ranked Sean O’Malley. The two faced off in the Octagon after Sterling defended his title for a record-setting third time against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288, and it appears that the trash talk “Sugar” has directed at the champion was enough to convince Sterling to put his plans for a move to featherweight on hold.

The co-main event will also include a strawweight title bout between Weili Zhang and Amanda Lemos, with Zhang set to make the first defense of her belt after starting her second reign as champion when she submitted Carla Esparza at UFC 281. Currently sitting at #4 in the UFC’s strawweight rankings, Lemos is on a two-fight win streak after finishing both Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Marina Rodriguez last year.

Although it seemed to be only a matter of time before the UFC formally booked it, it’s still a bit of a surprise to see the bantamweight title fight between Sterling and O’Malley announced just weeks after “Funk Master” last fought.

The strawweight title bout is also an unexpected matchup after White previously indicated the UFC might like to book an all-Chinese title fight between Zhang and Yan Xiaonan, but no doubt the fans lucky enough to attend UFC 292 in Boston won’t be complaining at all.

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Published May 16, 2023