Aljamain Sterling eyes 2024 title rematch with Sean O’Malley after KO loss at UFC 292: ‘I’ll be back’
Off the back of his stunning second round loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 over the course of last weekend, Aljamain Sterling has made his intentions clear for the future; a championship rematch with the outspoken Montana native.
Headlining at the TD Garden last Saturday in Boston, Massachusetts, Sterling suffered a stunning second round TKO loss against O’Malley – falling to a massive counter right hand, and follow-up ground strikes from the Dana White’s Contender Series.
The defeat saw Uniondale native, Sterling’s stunning nine fight winning run, which included a record-setting three successful title defenses against former champions, Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw, and earlier this year, Henry Cejudo.
Initially laying out plans for a title-fight at the featherweight limit against pound-for-pound number one and division champion, Alexander Volkanovski, Serra-Longo MMA staple, Sterling has now seen those plans entirely shut down by the Australian.
“Gotta feel for Aljo (Aljamain Sterling), man,” Alexander Volkanovski said. “I mean, what does he want to do? He’s definitely going to want that rematch [with Sean O’Malley]. That’s a big, big fight. [Him vs. me] that’s not happening. You never know, if he would have had a big win he could have took Ilia’s [Topuria] spot, but [he didn’t win].”
Aljamain Sterling plots rematch with Sean O’Malley next year
Eyeing up a continued run at bantamweight as a result, Sterling announced plans overnight, for a title re-run with O’Malley as soon as next year.
“Rematch 2024,” Aljamain Sterling posted on his official X account. “Game of inches. I’ll be back.”
As for O’Malley, the surging knockout artist had initially welcomed an immediate title fight rematch with former-foe, Marlon Vera – as soon as this December, in fact.
However, this week, the newly-crowned champion has now claimed that if Vera is insistent on plotting his future, he would skirt a rematch and instead chase a title defense with the aforenoted former duel-weight champion, Cejudo.
