UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will make a quick turnaround for the promotion’s return to Boston for the first time in four years with UFC 292.
UFC 292 takes place Aug. 19 at TD Garden, the promotion’s regular host for events in Beantown, and airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view. UFC President Dana White announced the event via the promotion’s YouTube channel on Tuesday afternoon.
As expected, Sterling, the No. 1 ranked bantamweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, defends his title against No. 3 Sean O’Malley. The two faced off immediately following Sterling’s title defense earlier this month against former champ Henry Cejudo. On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, the bantamweight champ opened the door to a quick turnaround against O’Malley.
“Supposedly, from what I’m being told behind the scenes, Dana is really going to stack this card,” Sterling said. “And if he stacks this card, that’s a good motivator in itself to be on a big card, because you don’t get pay-per-view points if you’re not the champ. So it’s like, there’s a lot of things that go into this. And to drag a guy like O’Malley down, what’s this guy going to do to me? Really?
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful, it’s a subtle jab, but it’s the truth. It’s a fight, anything could happen. But at the end of the day, I think we all know what his kryptonite is, and it’s unproven in the octagon. We’ve seen him one time on his back and he was like a fish out on land. ‘Chito’ [Marlon Vera] smashed him and sent him home. I think ‘Chito’ might have hit him one time, and his eyes rolled back in his head. That’s not a good sign.”
In the co-headliner, No. 1 ranked strawweight Zhang Weili defends her title against No. 5 Amanda Lemos, who’s won her past two fights including a stoppage of Marina Rodriguez in her most recent appearance.
The UFC 292 card includes:
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley – for the UFC bantamweight title
- Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos – for the UFC strawweight title.
