Tag: Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling: UFC thought Petr Yan was a ‘golden goose,’ but ‘he’s not as good as you guys think’

Aljamain Sterling thinks former bantamweight champion Petr Yan was overrated by the UFC and fans.

[autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] was overrated by the UFC and fans.

Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) beat Yan by disqualification to become bantamweight champion at UFC 259 and solidified his win in their rematch at UFC 273, at which he had almost two rounds of control time en route to a split decision win.

Prior to his first loss to Sterling, Yan was on a 10-fight winning streak – including knockouts of Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo. But Yan (16-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) now finds himself on a three-fight skid, which isn’t entirely surprising to Sterling.

“I felt like the UFC had him as this f*cking golden goose that was going to make all these eggs for them,” Sterling told Paul on BS w/ Jake Paul. “I was like, ‘Dude, he’s not as good as you guys think.’ This is coming from someone who’s in the sport – (who) breaks down and analyzes the fight. I do my podcast. I break down these fights weekly. Stylistically, when I’m looking at him and seeing what he’s doing to the guys he’s fighting, he’s fighting guys that are stationary, standing right in front of him.

“He takes his time. He lets them pick their shots and then he picks his shots, and he lands the better shots. If you get a guy who is actually trying to wrestle him, it’s a different fight, man. You saw the fight with Merab (Dvalishvili). You saw the fight with myself – even the Sean (O’Malley) fight. You get a guy with good footwork, it’s not the same fight, man. Things like that bother me.”

Sterling will look to notch his fourth title defense when he takes on O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

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Marlon Vera criticizes Sean O’Malley’s resume ahead of Aljamain Sterling title fight: ‘Who has he beat?’

Marlon Vera questions if Sean O’Malley is ready to challenge UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

[autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] questions if [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] is ready to challenge UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag].

O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) challenges Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

“Sugar’s” most notable win came over former champion Petr Yan last October at UFC 280. Sterling, on the other hand, has defended his belt against Yan, T.J. Dillashaw, and Henry Cejudo. Outside of O’Malley’s win over Yan, Vera has not been impressed with his resume. O’Malley’s lone-career loss came to Vera in 2020 by TKO.

“If you see accolades and who fought who, the fight shouldn’t be a problem for Sterling,” Vera said on The MMA Hour. “O’Malley can say whatever the f*ck he say, the two guys that have been in the top five that beat him were what? Me, was one and I beat him, I put him out. Pedro Munhoz who’s been around and is a top-five caliber guy, poked him in the eye and the fight was a no-contest, in a fight that he didn’t show anything.

“I mean you get an opportunity to fight somebody in the top five like that, you try to go and smoke him. Then, the B-level competition, yeah he put all of them out. Almeida was washed a lot of times. He wasn’t washed out, he was super washed out. Eddie Wineland, respect to the guy, he’s a legend but he got KO’d like four more times, or three more times. Then, the green-haired kid couldn’t win a fight in the UFC.”

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Vera understands the UFC’s decision to fast-track O’Malley due to his popularity, but doesn’t think his work warrants a title shot.

“I get it,” Vera continued. “You got talent, you got all this hype, we’re in the YouTube and TikTok era. You got a couple kids that follow you in that world but fighting-wise, you didn’t fight nobody. And then you grab Yan after a no-contest. Yes, you looked good in the Yan fight. People were expecting less from you. Yan can still fight but how good is he? Who has he beat? Who has he been in a fight with?

“That one punch thing won’t last forever. We saw it with Johnny Hendricks, maybe three or four fights, and after that – once you fight a better caliber of guys it doesn’t happen like that. And on paper, it’s hard to think O’Malley is going to win, but he could and that will only benefit me. But I’m not really rooting for nobody so we’ll see what happens. I’m ready to fight, and I know that.”

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UFC 292 adds Rob Font vs. Song Yadong to Boston lineup

Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley won’t be the only top bantamweights competing at UFC 292, as Rob Font vs. Song Yadong is set.

[autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] and [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] won’t be the only top bantamweights competing at UFC 292.

Before the 135-pound title fight takes place, contenders [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag] and [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] will square off in a three-round bout Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

Two people with knowledge of the booking recently informed MMA Junkie of the matchup but asked to remain anonymous. Contracts have not yet been signed but are expected to be in the coming days.

The promotion also officially announced the bout Wednesday evening. Eurosport NL was first to reported the targeted bout.

One of the faces of the New England Cartel, Massachusetts’ Font (20-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) will have a homecoming of sorts as he competes at TD Garden for the third time. Following back-to-back losses to Jose Aldo and Marlon Vera, Font bounced back with a brutal TKO victory over Adrian Yanez at UFC 287 in April.

Yadong (20-7-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) most recently competed in a five-round bout April 29 at UFC Fight Night 223 when he finished Ricky Simon with punches early in Round 5. Yadong has won four of his most recent five bouts, with the only loss a TKO due to a laceration against Cory Sandhagen.

With the addition, the UFC 292 lineup includes:

  • Champion Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley – for bantamweight title
  • Champion Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos – for women’s strawweight title
  • Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Vera
  • Rob Font vs. Song Yadong
  • Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
  • Brad Tavares vs. Chris Weidman
  • Mario Bautista vs. Cody Garbrandt
  • Gerald Meerschaert vs. Andre Petroski
  • Maryna Moroz vs. Karine Silva
  • Andrea Lee vs. Natalia Silva
  • Gregory Rodrigues vs. Denis Tiuliulin

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.

Daniel Cormier: Aljamain Sterling loss showed Henry Cejudo ‘too small,’ shouldn’t mention Alexander Volkanovski

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier thinks Henry Cejudo’s focus should remain on bantamweight.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag]’s focus should remain on bantamweight.

Cejudo (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) had plans of reclaiming his 135-pound title, then moving up a weight class to challenge featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. However, those plans were derailed when he lost to [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] at UFC 288 in May.

Cormier seemed to confirm the rumblings of a matchup between Cejudo and Marlon Vera at UFC 292 on Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston – on the same card as Sterling’s next title defense against Sean O’Malley.

“Henry Cejudo is gonna fight in Boston in August against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Here’s the thing that’s weird for me: He was asking for another title fight because he thought maybe Aljamin Sterling, who Dana bought a Lamborghini for, was not gonna fight against Sean O’Malley. Well, they’re fighting. So he said, what matters to him is it’s 15 years to the day that he won the Olympic gold medal.”

Cormier said the loss to Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) proved that former flyweight and bantamweight champ Cejudo doesn’t have the size to hang at featherweight.

“Henry is putting himself in a really good position to try to have an opportunity to become a champion again,” Cormier said. “What the fight with Aljo (Sterling) taught me was that Henry Cejudo should not be talking about Alexander Volkanovski. He’s too small because Aljo’s length caused him some issues, and Volkanovski is an absolute monster and probably the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound.”

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Aljamain Sterling: Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 ‘probably my last fight at bantamweight’

Win or lose, UFC 292 will likely mark bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling’s final fight at 135 pounds.

Win or lose, UFC 292 will likely mark bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag]’s final fight at 135 pounds.

Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) defends his title against [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

Sterling will make a three-month turnaround to face O’Malley after edging out Henry Cejudo in a five-round battle last month at UFC 288. The quick turnaround has accentuated the toll of Sterling’s weight cut.

“Win or learn, this is probably my last fight at bantamweight,” Sterling said on “Smack Talk With Sandhu.” “Even if I were to learn and I didn’t get my hand raised, it damn sure ain’t because of Sean O’Malley running me out of the division.

“It’s more so this sh*t is getting old, man. It hurts. You think I wouldn’t like to just turn around? Yeah, I could turn around and go fight 145 and go fight three-and-a-half months later, which is pretty much what this fight is. It’s the weight cut.”

Sterling was initially skeptical about fighting so soon but ultimately accepted. “The Funkmaster” is irked by how the odds are stacked against him with the big cutdown and lack of time to properly heal, but he looks forward to proving the doubters wrong once again.

“If it’s me, I want to fight you at your best,” Sterling said. “Not when I could feel like I could get you when you’re weak. Yeah, some people might say it’s smarter to do that. Yeah, it is tactically, but you get no respect for that. And if you go out there and get smashed – even having those advantages going in, bro, you should reevaluate your career and see what you really want to do.

“That’s my mentality going in. You want to take the easy road and try to be a little b*tch and get somebody in there faster because you know you’re going to have those advantages because I just came out of a really tough fight with Henry.”

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Alexander Volkanovski: Aljamain Sterling’s quick turnaround at UFC 292 will ‘get a lot of people on his side’

Alexander Volkanovski sees benefit in Aljamain Sterling’s quick turnaround.

[autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] sees benefit in [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag]’s quick turnaround.

Bantamweight champion Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) retained his title against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 in May. Shortly after, he was booked for his next assignment against Sean O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

Although Sterling had his reservations to compete again so soon, he sees O’Malley as likely his final fight at 135 pounds before making the move up to 145 pounds. Featherweight champion Volkanovski (25-2 MMA, 12-1 UFC) praised Sterling for his activity, and sees a win over O’Malley building up a potential fight with him even more.

“I’m glad he’s doing the quick turnaround,” Volkanovski said on Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel. “I think that’s gonna get a lot of people on his side. Not only that, it’s a massive fight. Sean O’Malley pulls numbers, this is incredible, so I’m really looking forward to see how that plays out.

“You heard your Henry’s and your Aljo’s talk about moving up to featherweight which I would love that. A big win from Aljo if he was to take out O’Malley, that would be huge for him. That sets him right up for a fight at featherweight. Him doing the quick turnaround, I love it.”

Volkanovski thinks O’Malley has the striking to trouble Sterling, but sees the championship rounds benefitting “The Funkmaster.”

“It’s a tricky one,” Volkanovski said. “I believe that O’Malley’s striking is obviously a lot better. Don’t get me wrong, Aljamain’s striking is not too bad. He’s still good, he’s tricky, and he’s got to weave pressure especially when you’re going to have that wrestling threat, that backpack threat. That’s definitely going to play a factor.

“I think Sean O’Malley definitely has a confidence to stay composed and be sharp on the feet and not hesitate too much because of it, but I mean, if I had to lean towards someone, five rounds, probably Aljo. But I definitely could see Sean O’Malley catching him.”

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Aljamain Sterling: Charles Oliveira in lightweight GOAT debate with Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling thinks Charles Oliveira should be included in any conversation about the greatest lightweight of all time.

UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] should be included in any conversation about the greatest lightweight of all time.

To many, that title is currently held by undefeated former UFC champ [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag], but Sterling sees former champ Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) closing the gap.

“Greatest of all time, the GOAT, what’s the criteria for that?” Sterling asked on his YouTube channel. “Is it just accolades? Because if it’s just accolades, Charles Oliveira has a pretty damn good resume. From title defenses, style points on finishes, been in the game longer.”

Oliveira made quick work of the streaking Beneil Dariush in this past Saturday’s UFC 289 co-main event and now holds finishes over every fighter currently in the UFC’s top-five lightweight rankings. His 20 UFC finishes is also the record for most stoppage wins in company history.

Based on his resume and his past 11-fight winning streak, which was snapped by lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 280, Sterling makes a case for “Do Bronx.”

“So for me, I think he has to be within that conversation,” Sterling added. “You have to include Charles Oliveira in that against Khabib. The next best thing right now seems like it’s Makhachev closing in. I’m really looking at title defenses and then winning streak, as well.

“Not like your entire career, I’m talking like in the UFC. Getting those type of win streaks in the UFC, it’s very difficult to do. And seeing someone bounce back from an ‘L’ the way that Oliveira has done time and time again in his career, there’s something to be said about that.”

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Aljamain Sterling questions Sean O’Malley’s knockout wins: ‘Are any of those guys even in the UFC anymore?’

UFC champ Aljamain Sterling doesn’t view Sean O’Malley as a proven knockout artist despite his total number.

UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] doesn’t view [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] as a proven knockout artist.

Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) will defend his title against O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston. Eleven of O’Malley’s 16 professional wins have come by knockout, but Sterling criticizes the level of opposition they’ve come against.

“I mean, when is the last time he knocked anybody out, though? Are any of those guys even in the UFC anymore? We’re going to find out. That’s the beauty about this sport,” Sterling told The Schmo. “I can say what I want to say, he can say what he wants to say, but eventually we are going to get locked in there on Aug. 19.

“We’ll figure it out Aug. 19, and we’ll see who’s who. I’ll be four-time Funk and after that, don’t call my phone, Dana. Don’t call my phone, Hunter. I’m on vacation for a very long time.”

Although Sterling said he’s not underestimating O’Malley, he envisions himself getting the stoppage win early.

“Sean’s a tough dude. I’m not looking past him by any means,” Sterling said. “With that being said, I finish him in one.”

Sterling doesn’t see O’Malley being able to hang with him on the ground. In his most recent title defense, Sterling took Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo down four times en route to a split decision win at UFC 288.

“Sean is a game opponent,” Sterling added. “He’s tall, he’s rangy, he hits hard, very accurate. But we’ve seen every time he’s stepped up in competition, he’s kind of fumbled the bag a little bit. He has one really good win over Petr Yan.

“I’m proven. What he’s done, he’s done the same thing over and over. We’re gonna see how he does with someone who can actually put him on his back and keep him there other than ‘Chito’ (Vera), and we saw how that went already.

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Javier Mendez: Sean O’Malley has capability and heart to upset Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292

Javier Mendez thinks Sean O’Malley can upset Aljamain Sterling when he challenges for the bantamweight title at UFC 292 in Boston.

Javier Mendez thinks [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] has the tools to dethrone [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag].

O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) challenges bantamweight champion Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

In what is a striker vs. grappler matchup on paper, American Kickboxing Academy head coach Mendez says don’t count O’Malley out if he’s able to fend off Sterling’s takedowns. He sees “The Suga Show” having a big advantage on the feet.

“It’s an obvious fight,” Mendez told The Schmo. “For Sterling, he can’t beat him in the standup. He’s not going to beat O’Malley in the standup. He has to close the gap, get on his back. If Sterling can do that, which he’s very much capable of doing, it’s going to be a bad night for O’Malley. But if O’Malley can keep it off the floor – keep it at a distance and use his great striking – it could be an upset.”

Mendez was impressed with O’Malley’s performance against Petr Yan at UFC 280, when he outlasted the former champion with a razor-thin decision. Although Mendez thought Yan won the fight, he saw resilience in O’Malley.

“O’Malley has that capability and he’s got the heart,” Mendez said. “He proved it when he fought Petr Yan. He proved that he had the heart because he got lumped up pretty good. He came back, so I was impressed with O’Malley. I didn’t think he won that fight, but regardless, I was impressed. … He’s got the heart of a lion and he goes to fight. He proved that in that fight, so you can’t count O’Malley out no matter what.”

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Ray Longo ponders UFC’s ‘favoritism’ toward Islam Makhachev, other champs in Aljamain Sterling’s quick turnaround

Ray Longo takes exception with the way he thinks the UFC has treated bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling compared to other champs.

Ray Longo takes exception with the way he thinks the UFC has treated [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag].

Bantamweight champion Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) will be making a three-month turnaround to face Sean O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 main event Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

Sterling is fresh off a five-round headlining win against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. He initially wanted more time to recover before booking his next fight, and Longo doesn’t think it’s fair for the UFC to offer Sterling a fight so quickly.

“To me, in business and even down here, you know what people like: consistency,” Longo said in a recent episode of the Anik & Florian Podcast. “If I come in here, everybody pays $200 a month, and then they’re walking around the gym, and someone says, ‘No, he only charges me $75,’ that’s not good, you know what I mean? It’s got to be consistent. That’s why I said we’re giving examples where it seems like it’s favoritism almost.”

Longo pointed to lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag], who retained his belt against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 in February. His next title defense is expected to take place at UFC 294 on Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi.

“I think it’s the inconsistency of, well, ‘Makhachev hasn’t fought in a year. Why are you rushing me to fight in two months?’ That’s where I have a problem,” Longo said. “I like fairness, and I like the transparency of knowing everybody’s doing the same thing.

“If Dana (White) wanted to turn everybody around every two months, then that’s it. That’s what you signed up for. This is their rules. It’s their company. He built it up. He gets to call the shots. But to do one thing one time and not another time, I think that’s where it gets a little sticky for me.”

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