Morning Report: Aljamain Sterling thinks Sean O’Malley beat Petr Yan, gives timeline for his next title defense

Aljamain Sterling isn’t buying the “robbery” arguments in Sean O’Malley vs. Petr Yan.

At UFC 280, Sterling successfully defended his bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw, stopping the former champion in the second round. In the fight immediately before Sterling’s, O’Malley faced Yan in one of the most anticipated bouts of the event, taking home a split decision win that was quickly called by some, including Yan, a robbery. But after going back and rewatching the fight, Sterling says that’s nonsense.

“29-28, I gave it to O’Malley,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “That’s my personal opinion, my take. Don’t think that I’m running from Petr Yan, I think this fight was that close. Either of these guys I’d fight. It’s a tough fight, regardless, so it doesn’t matter. So if you think that I can fight O’Malley and it’s going to be that easy, it’s not. If you think I’m going to just run through him, I’m not. I could. I could but it doesn’t mean I’m definitely will…

“I know Petr was really pissed, but he leaves the fights really close sometimes, with his style. Sometimes you’ve got to be a little more definitive. Yeah, he’s defensively responsible in the sense of covering up to make sure he’s protected before he unloads and uncorks, but at the same time, I think his inactivity — and we see this here with [O’Malley], we saw that with myself — it kind of hurts him. Even his fights with John Dodson, his fight with Jimmie Rivera, sometimes he let’s himself get behind that eight ball a little bit too much, trying to land the perfect shot…

“It is what it is. Both guys brought it. It’s a great fight for myself, in terms of the financial factor. In terms of people tuning in to watch. I think O’Malley will help build the fight, I think Yan will help build the fight, no matter what. It’s a great fight no matter who won, and for anyone to call this a robbery, I think you’re a little bit biased. I don’t have a dog in the race. People are going to be like, ‘You just want the easier fight!’ That’s a crazy thing to say, because if you watch this, competitively, this was a tough fight.”

Controversial or not, O’Malley official won the bout, doing what many thought impossible and setting up a lucrative title defense for Sterling next. Except, UFC President Dana White already suggested Sterling would face Henry Cejudo next, and Sterling has refrained from calling for a specific opponent, leaving things up in the air. And according to the champ, that’s because for the moment, he’s more concerned with getting some time off than with picking a fight.

“I look forward to potentially fighting either Henry Cejudo, ‘Chito’ Vera, or even ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley,” Sterling said. “I think there’s a lot of great fights out there for me, and they’re ones that are going to be competitive. Giving a guy like O’Malley time to prep for me might be in his best interest versus mine, [but] I just really want the downtime. These training camps, they’re very, very difficult. To go through the fight and people to go, ‘You’re unscathed.’ Yes, you have a point, but I just fought in April, so why is it that I can’t enjoy some time after fighting in April, after 13 months of recovery and the s***-talk? Mentally, it takes a lot out of you. Yeah, I can say I don’t care all I want, but I do read the comments and it does get mentally draining. Not just the s***-talk, but the whole package…

“I just need some time to just be myself, get some other things done, some other ventures… I’ve got a bunch of different things that I have on the horizon that I want to dive into, but I can’t put focus or energy into it if I have one month off and then have to dive back into another vicious training camp. I don’t think you guys understand how hard I train. It’s not easy, guys. So yeah, my job is to fight, but at the same time I don’t want life to pass me by and then look back and I have nothing to show for it in the sense of business ventures or stuff like that. I don’t want to be stuck, as soon as I’m done, and step outside that door and be like, ‘Now what?’”

Sterling mentioned a number of things he wanted to dive into, including a rum company, a supplement company, and creating an energy bar for athletes, as well as just taking some time off to recover, citing small injuries suffered during the Dillashaw fight and camp. And since UFC 280 was Sterling’s second title defense of 2022, “The Funk Master” says that unless the UFC makes him an offer he can’t refuse, he’s not looking to step back into the cage until next summer.

“I haven’t even talked to the UFC, and I don’t have the desire, nor the motivation to go through another training camp like that…” Sterling said. “So if they were to try to entice me to come back sooner rather than later, it’s going to have to be worth my time, because I’d like to catch up on things that I haven’t had the moments to sit down and smell the roses for a bit. Two fights [in 2022]. People that think champions defend their belts more than two times in a year, you’re drunk. Most times a champion — go back and look through history — most times a champion usually fights one time a year, if they’re lucky. Two times is ideal, which I already did, and if I want to take a break, I think I earned that break…

“I just need a little bit more time. Maybe I get the itch sooner rather than later, but as of right now, I don’t want to fight until June. I think that’s more then enough time to get me all the things that I need to get in motion so I can set these things up and then I can focus solely on just the fight. That’s what I want to do.”

Results. Jake Paul scores late knockdown on Anderson Silva, secures unanimous decision victory to remain undefeated.

Results. Calvin Kattar knee injury leads to TKO for Arnold Allen in main event of UFC Vegas 63.

Results. Mansour Barnaoui submits Adam Piccolotti in Bellator debut at Bellator 287.

Message. Jake Paul calls out ‘b****’ Nate Diaz after backstage altercation; sends profane message to Dana White.

Strategy. Anderson Silva laments ‘stupid’ strategy fail in Jake Paul loss, but will fight on: ‘I can’t stop.’

Impressed. Georges St-Pierre ‘extremely impressed by Jake Paul’s performance’ in win over Anderson Silva.

Reaction. Arnold Allen reacts to injury TKO of Calvin Kattar: ‘Stupid of me to think he wouldn’t come out’ for second round.

Mad. Cody Garbrandt calls for trilogy bout against T.J. Dillashaw: ‘EPO can’t save you anymore.’

Paul-Silva Post Show.

UFC Vegas 63 Post Show.

Israel Adesanya reacts to Paul-Silva.

Doctor explains Calvin Kattar’s knee injury.

Kamaru Usman talking about the trilogy fight with Leon Edwards next year.

Fight Circus 4 is this weekend!

On To The Next One. Matches to make following UFC Vegas 63.

Jake Paul.

Luke Rockhold.

Harsh truths.

Chase Hooper.

Henry Cejudo trying to get the Sean O’Malley bad since Aljamain Sterling is not pushing for that for some unknown reason.

Halloween.

I don’t know what this means, but it’s provocative.

Man, Aljo’s video this week was very revealing. He says his goal is to have $2-5 million in his bank account/investments upon retirement. We’re talking about the bantamweight champion of the world. Crazy.

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.