A quick title turnaround and favored opponent are nothing new to Aljamain Sterling, so his UFC 292 headliner with Sean O’Malley is more of the same.
Sterling believes his longtime promoter has done everything it can to keep him from rising to the top, even as he prepares to headline his second UFC pay-per-view in three months.
The Aug. 19 headliner isn’t just a rush into Sterling’s next fight. For him, it represents another chance to deny his most powerful doubters by thumping an opponent he says has been given favorable treatment.
“I’m looking at him and seeing what he’s doing to the guys,” Sterling said Thursday on Jake Paul’s “B.S.” video podcast. “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 lays the better shots. I’m like, if you get a guy who’s actually trying to wrestle him, it’s a different fight, man. … You get a guy with good footwork, it’s not the same fight, man.
“So things like that bother me, and it’s not because of him. I almost feel like maybe the UFC is almost like my pappy, you know. So I look at them like my dad, where I almost feel like I need to prove something to pops, to be like, ‘Oh yeah, you think this, ‘I’m gonna show you motherfucker,’ for me.”
So far, Sterling has done just that. In June, he broke the record for most consecutive bantamweight title defenses at 3 with a split call over former two-division UFC champ Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. Many predicted Cejudo’s wrestling would be too much for the 33-year-old champ. Instead, Sterling matched and outworked the Olympic gold medalist.
Sterling attributed the mental toughness needed to achieve such feats in part to a rough upbringing. He said his father was a mostly absent, a “street pharmacist” who repeatedly abused him and used makeshift household items to beat him. Once, he said a blow to the head left him with a ringing sound he still remembers to this day.
Several of Sterling’s octagon opponents rubbed him the wrong way, most notably ex-champ Petr Yan, whom he beat via disqualification to capture the bantamweight belt (he later defended it with a decision over the Russian ex-champ). O’Malley, however, has given him even more desire to prevail.
“I felt like the UFC had him as this f****** golden goose that was gonna make all these eggs for them,” Sterling said. “And I don’t know, I was like, ‘Dude, he’s not as good as you guys think.’”
O’Malley defeated Yan this past October to clear the way for a title shot. He faced off with Sterling in the octagon after UFC 288, nearly setting off a melee when Sterling’s teammate, bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili, snatched his jacket.
O’Malley’s popularity has led to regular spots on the main cards of UFC pay-per-views. Sterling plans to show the world that doesn’t correlate with talent.
“This is what gets me going,” he said. “This is what gets me up in the morning and this is what gets me in the gym and push those hours. This, there’s times when I do these shark tank drills – I’ll do eight rounds. Like, this is the type of mentality, and this type of warfare that I’m preparing for when I go into these fights. Like, I come in ready, and he’s doing all this f****** weird hippie breathing into a balloon bulls***.”
O’Malley has been spotted using a balloon-like device that purportedly helps athletes breathe better during performance. Sterling scoffed at the device and said he relies on the old-school toughness of a trained wrestler.
“You know what I’m f****** doing? I’m doing another f****** round, I’m doing another f****** round of grappling,” he said. “This is real s***. The s*** is he doing? I’m like, what the f*** are you doing, bro?”
Sterling is as high as a -375 favorite to defend his title on Aug. 19 in Boston. O’Malley is a +200 underdog in most lines.
You can watch Sterling’s full interview below.