Aljamain Sterling echoes plans to vacate title with UFC 292 victory: ‘If I win this, for sure, I’m out of here’
Ahead of his Octagon return at UFC 292 this weekend in Boston, Massachusetts, incumbent undisputed bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has again echoed claims that he will likely end his gold-laden tenure in the division with a title defense win over Sean O’Malley.
Sterling, the current undisputed bantamweight champion, is slated to headline UFC 292 this weekend at the TD Garden, taking on Montana native and Dana White’s Contender Series alum, O’Malley in a championship bout.
Most recently headlining UFC 288 back in May, Sterling managed to land his third consecutive successful bantamweight title defense with a close, split decision win over former two-weight gold holder, Henry Cejudo, in the latter’s return from a three-year Octagon hiatus.
Aljamain Sterling backs Merab Dvalishvili to land gold after UFC 292
Attempting to rack up a further record-setting title defense over the number two ranked O’Malley this weekend in ‘Bean Town’ – Uniondale native, Sterling, who has offered the spot he currently holds as champion, to Serra-Longo MMA teammate, Merab Dvalishvili – has claimed he is likely done at 135lbs after this weekend’s UFC 292 headliner.
“This is more than likely my last fight at 135 (pounds),” Aljamain Sterling told MMA Fighting. “There’s a 99 percent chance it’s my last. If I win this, for sure, I’m out of here.”
“It’s Merab’s (Dvalishvili) time, man,” Aljamain Sterling continued. “And the second part of that is, I’m a little bit over cutting weight, this much weight. I walk around [at] 165, 170 (pounds). I think I could hold that frame relatively better, and I think my conditioning and everything could actually go up a little bit more, back to when I was younger, where I was cutting less. I’m 34 now, so I think I just wanna get ahead of it before it gets ahead of me.”
