Aljamain Sterling wants rematch after losing UFC title to Sean O'Malley

20 August 2023 , 11:19

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Sean O'Malley knocked out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 to win the bantamweight title

Aljamain Sterling has called for an immediate rematch against Sean O'Malley after losing his bantamweight title at UFC 292.

Sterling was looking to make the fourth consecutive defence of his belt against O'Malley in Boston on Saturday night, but the fight didn't go his way as he was knocked out. The talented grappler was unable to take O'Malley down and he was dropped by a right hand in the second round before being finished by some follow-up ground-and-pound.

O'Malley already has the first defence of his newly-acclaimed title planned out as he wants to face old rival Chito Vera in a rematch at UFC 296 in December. Sterling is hoping to scupper those plans as he called for a rematch against O'Malley, stating at the post-fight press conference: “I would first and foremost love an opportunity to run that back, just to get some definitive answers."

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“It's 100 per cent what I would like the most. He could go out there and beat me again; I think it just strengthens his case that he’s as good as he says he is. But I think I’ve earned it. I would like to think that I’ve earned my right to get an immediate rematch. Maybe I could do... I don’t want to say a better job because I feel like the guys I trained with were phenomenal, but maybe make it more [purposeful] to have guys that are giving me that look going side to side so that I do a better job of preparing for that.

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"That ultimately was the one thing I was concerned with. It was the one thing that he did a great job with, neutralising my forward pressure where I was like, ‘You know what, let’s play Matador,’ and I was trying to let him in so that I could spin him to the cage. He didn’t really play the game. It’s just one of those things, a couple of tactical things I think I need to look at. I think is a very winnable fight. I think he’s good at what he does. I’m good at what I do."

Aljamain Sterling was knocked out by Sean O'Malley at UFC 292

O'Malley scoffed at Sterling's calls for a rematch as the former champion was planning to move up to featherweight to pursue a super-fight against Alexander Volkanovski had things gone his way on Saturday night. "I thought he was going up to 145lb? I thought these weight cuts were too hard? Next question," O'Malley said.

Sterling, who is widely considered the greatest bantamweight fighter ever, was unbeaten in five years heading into the fight. O'Malley is now just the second fighter to be signed to the UFC from the Contender Series to win a world title, with Jamahal Hill first achieving the feat in January."

Harry Davies