In Boston the next numbered tournament of mixed martial arts UFC 292 ended, the main event of which was the title fight in the bantamweight category between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley.
Sugar got his chance to challenge for the promotion’s belt with a win over Petr Yan last fall. An extremely controversial victory, which at one point excited the entire MMA world, allowed the American to move from the 11th line in the ranking of his weight class immediately to the first. Many had serious doubts about the fairness of such a decision. In addition, Sean could not boast of any serious victory before the fight with the Russian.
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No less surprising was White’s rather strange, even prejudiced attitude towards O’Malley. While Sterling was complaining that he didn’t want to fight in August and the promotion didn’t give him much free time, Sean was getting a lot of preferences. But despite all this, he was the defending champion, and not the upstart challenger, who considered himself the clear favorite of the matchup. Sterling had already managed to defend his belt three times by that time and become the record holder for this indicator in the bantamweight division. And the upcoming fight was supposed to be his last before trying to break into the next weight class. Talk of fights with Volkanovski has been plaguing the US media for months.
The fight itself began with active pressure from the champion. Aljo kept his distance well, and his kicks to Sean’s body paid off and allowed him to control the course of the match. In general, the first round can be described as exploration. Both fighters were more likely to try to prevent the other from acting in the usual way, but Sterling did much better.
But the second round really shocked the audience, the slow showdown flashing with colors. The exchanges were one after another. O’Malley clearly looked worse, Aljo felt confident and completely forgot about protection. This floored the champion. Sean managed to catch it by mistake. Sterling collapsed to the canvas, and there the challenger managed to finish him off without any problem.
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The title passed to Sean, and we will most likely see a rematch between the fighters in the near future. Basically, the UFC really benefits O’Malley’s championship. He is an impressive fighter who attracts the public. Sean generally comes off as a showman rather than an athlete. He is friends with many celebrities, including rapper Snoop Dogg.
O’Malley’s win means Peter Yan has now moved further away from the coveted belt. The Russian is no longer in the best form of him, and he won’t get a title shot for another year, given a likely rematch with Sterling.
