Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley are set for a collision course when they headline UFC 292 with a bantamweight championship match at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on Sunday morning.
Sterling (23-3) has put up three successful defences of his bantamweight title (a record for the division), most recently claiming a split decision win over Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 in May of this year.
O’Malley (16-1, 1 NC) is unbeaten in his last five trips to the Octagon (including one No Contest against Pedro Munhoz, which was called off after an accidental eye poke), most recently claiming a split decision win over former bantamweight champion Petr Yan in October of last year.
The war of words between the two has mostly been centred on Sterling claiming that is he is “fighting against his will” due to what he feels is too quick a turnaround since his last fight: “People don’t understand how much time I actually put into this sport,” the 33-year-old ‘Funkmaster’ explained.
“Sometimes you could get a little burnt out. Sometimes that can take a lot out of you mentally. That’s why, after this fight, I had so much things with Henry, so many things planned out, that I just wanted to decompress and stop thinking about fighting for once because I do so much to get to the fight and prep myself to mentally get ready for battle.”
In response, 28-year-old ‘Sugar’ believes Sterling is setting up an excuse: “It’s a built-in excuse to say, ‘Oh, I got these injuries and I’m going into this fight,’ and I beat him, and he’s like, ‘Well, you guys already knew. I said I was injured, I didn’t want to fight.’”
The co-main event is also a championship bout, as Zhang Weili puts her women’s strawweight title on the line against Amanda Lemos.
Weili (23-3) reclaimed the title when she defeated Carla Esparza via submission in November last year, while Lemos (13-2-1) has earned her shot at the gold thanks to a run of seven wins from her last eight matches, most recently stopping Marina Rodriguez in a Fight Night, also in November 2022.
The Brazilian challenger has respect for the champ, but believes “and new” will be shouted out at the end of their match: “Weili is very explosive. She likes to finish fights just like myself, so we’ll set the octagon on fire. I’ll get in there to win. We have a nice strategy, and I’m sure I’ll leave the cage with the belt.”
The rest of the main card features two bantamweight fights, with Cody Garbrandt facing Mario Bautista, and Marlon Vera battling Pedro Munhoz, as well as a welterweight clash between Ian Machado Garry and Neil Magny.
UFC 292 – MAIN CARD
Main event: Bantamweight championship: Aljamain Sterling v Sean O’Malley
Co-main event: Women’s strawweight championship: Zhang Weili v Amanda Lemos
Welterweight: Ian Machado Garry v Neil Magny
Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt v Mario Bautista
Bantamweight: Marlon Vera v Pedro Munhoz