Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has doubled down on his accusations hurled at Sean O’Malley highlighting the nature of his rise in the organization. Sterling asserts that O’Malley, like YouTuber-turned-fighter Jake Paul, leveraged his popularity to fast-track his quest for the championship opportunity.
During a recent episode of Verse Us with Eric Nicksick, Sterling painted a narrative that O’Malley achieved championship status with the UFC allegedly sabotaging and manipulating the odds against his opponent. ‘Funk Master’ believes that O’Malley securing a title shot with a split decision win over Petr Yan is comparable to the rise of Paul in the boxing world.
Sterling reinforced the stance during a recent fan interaction on X when a fan questioned him about the logic supporting those remarks. Sterling wrote:
“It’s the same thing I’ve been saying since last year. It’s exhausting. The kid is talented, but his path to fighting for gold is by far one of the easier ones, than maybe 95% of the roster. We have to go through a gauntlet. that’s the way the world works. It’s not always fair. Life goes on.”
That being said, in a follow-up X post, Sterling acknowledged that he couldn’t hold it against O’Malley for maximizing his popularity:
“Trust me I get it and can’t knock him for using it to his advantage to develop his style to where it is today. Doesn’t change my talking point tho. Fair? Most of us started fighting to make some bread and be the best. Not it’s much more than fight. Everyone isn’t good at the other stuff.”
He concluded his stance by reconciling with a notion put forth by a fan that “you can’t control the hand you were given.” Moreover, Sterling, who dropped the bantamweight title to O’Malley at UFC 292 with a TKO loss, is “glad that” his friend Merab Dvalishvili finally can challenge ‘Suga’ for the throne.
Sean O’Malley fires back at Aljamain Sterling’s comments
Following up on the alleged smooth ascent to the top, Aljamain Sterling asserted that Merab Dvalishvili should’ve secured the title shot against Sean O’Malley after UFC 292. The UFC, instead, decided to pit O’Malley against Marlon Vera.
‘Suga’ outclassed Vera en route to a unanimous decision win and rattled off his third straight victory against a formidable name. Sterling’s allegations incited a cutting reply from O’Malley on X. He wrote:
“I’m glad they gave me an easy fight to get the title.”
