Aljamain Sterling didn’t let Sean O’Malley’s latest jab sit for long. After O’Malley brought up the knockout that took Sterling’s bantamweight title, Sterling wrote on X that he got into this sport on merit and not handouts. Then he signed off with a pet name his mother probably wouldn’t love.
The full post: “Lol cool. I came into this sport on merit. Not hand outs. To each his own. Cheers suga tits”
Sterling was quoting a clip shared by @RedCorner_MMA from O’Malley’s appearance on the BYM Pod. In it, O’Malley singled out Sterling as the lone voice against him getting the next crack at 135.
View post on X
“The only person that I’ve seen say it shouldn’t be me is Aljamain Sterling,” O’Malley said. “No, that’s not because I knocked him out August 19th, 2023, in Boston to steal his belt. That’s not why he thinks that. I don’t know why. I couldn’t tell you why, but he said that’s not why.”
Then O’Malley admitted the whole thing got away from him. “I had a point, but then I was like, I’ve got to throw shade at Aljo, and then I forgot where I was going with it.”
Point lost. Shade delivered. Priorities intact.
O’Malley has been loud about the title picture for a while now. Last week, he took issue with Daniel Cormier floating Song Yadong’s name instead of his in a post-fight interview, in a clip that made the rounds on r/MMA. “DC, I don’t know what he’s thinking. I beat Song like 6 months ago. I should be next for the title, I don’t care,” O’Malley said.
The belt belongs to Petr Yan, who beat Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 to settle their trilogy and defend the bantamweight title. Combat Press’ November rankings have Yan at No. 1, Dvalishvili at No. 2, O’Malley at No. 3 and Song at No. 4. So O’Malley has a case on paper, and he isn’t shy about making it, assuming he remembers what it was.
Sterling, meanwhile, lives at featherweight now. Combat Press has him at No. 4 at 145. His last listed outing was a unanimous decision over Brian Ortega, who struggled to make weight for the fight and looked flat on the night, according to Yahoo Sports. Sterling also had a loud weekend as a spectator. Laura Sanko said on the UFC Vegas 123 broadcast that he was losing it in the crowd after referee Dan Miragliotta stood up Renato Moicano while Moicano had Tom Nolan’s back with a body triangle. Fans on r/MMA later passed around a clip of Sterling having some strong words for Miragliotta.
So he’s been in a mood. O’Malley picked a bad week to poke him.
My take: O’Malley holds the better hand here. He has the knockout, the ranking and the recent win over Song, and Sterling no longer competes in the division he’s critiquing. But Sterling answers questions straight and fast, and I’ll always take that over a podcast monologue that wanders off mid-sentence. Yan picks his next challenger from a bantamweight top four that already includes O’Malley and Song, and Sterling’s vote doesn’t count. He’ll keep casting it on X anyway.
