Morning Report: Aljamain Sterling says Sean O’Malley title defense taken ‘literally against my will’

Aljamain Sterling wasn’t planning to turn around and fight as quickly as he is.

“Funkmaster” has become a nearly unstoppable force at bantamweight as the reigning UFC champion. Riding a nine-fight winning streak, Sterling added to his stretch of success with an impressive split decision effort against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 this past May. The third consecutive title defense immediately set up Sterling for a showdown with top-ranked contender Sean O’Malley.

Competing once more in 2023 was always expected from Sterling, he just didn’t think it would be as soon as August 19 at UFC 292 in Boston, Massachusetts. The fight was announced roughly two weeks after Sterling’s win over Cejudo and he was vocal about needing to heal and how nothing was entirely official as of the announcement.

“People don’t understand how much time I actually put into this sport,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Sometimes you could get a little burned 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.

“I had that just kind of ripped from underneath my legs. Now I’m like, ‘Okay, this time you motherf*****s are not doing this to me again.’ I’m going to fight, even though it’s literally against my will. People can say whatever — if Dana [White] were to hear this, Hunter [Campbell] were to hear this, they would say, ‘We’re not making him do anything.’ Let’s be real here, bro. Come on, dude. You kind of are. Let’s call a spade a spade.”

In hindsight, Sterling’s three title defenses have come at a relatively quick clip. The Uniondale, NY native missed out on one full year of action following his capturing of the title against Petr Yan in March 2021. Sterling then underwent neck surgery and returned better than ever, defeating Yan again, this time by split decision before dispatching of T.J. Dillashaw via a second-round ground and pound TKO.

While he’s been active since his last surgery, Sterling wants to make it clear that he’s still dealing with some lingering physical hindrances ahead of his “Sugar” showdown.

“Like I said, I still have injuries that I’m still nursing to this day, and I’m not going to stop saying that,” Sterling said. “People can get mad at me. ‘You’re disclosing that you’re not 100 percent healthy.’ No one is 100 percent healthy going into a fight, and clearly, I just fought.

“Henry just pulled out of a fight because he’s not 100 percent healthy. I wonder why that happened. … Behind the scenes, [UFC executives] have their ways to kind of make you, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this for you guys again, even though I’m not going to get any thank yous for it.’”

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The MMA Hour.

UFC 290 Media Day.

Embedded 3.

Free fights.

Final training for Volk.

Bellator’s best Irish fighters.

Full fights.

RIZIN Confessions 127.

Wonderboy on Volk.

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Sooooooo funny.

Poster drop.

Nightmare.

No. 1?

Stylish.

Yes.

Ruthless.

Staying put.

Blue check Billy.

Feels.

I have a feeling things may get a little interesting once this fight gets closer. Sterling is spot on about what Dana’s response will be.

Thanks for reading!

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