Aljamain Sterling breaks silence after behind-the-scenes of UFC brass making him fight Sean O’Malley goes viral

Aljamain Sterling lost his bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292. Following some recent viral footage, it has been revealed that Sterling was unmotivated to fight. However, Dana White and Hunter Campbell successfully convinced the fighter to sign the contract.

Since then the video has been seen by millions of fight fans who accused the UFC top brass of manipulation. Aljamain Sterling recently shared a video on his YouTube channel where he relived the particular incident.

It really did piss me off in that moment of time…Yea you’re telling me I could sit out, but then you’re also telling me ‘well if you don’t fight then you don’t fight for almost a year’… you almost tie my hands behind my back
Aljamain Sterling via his YouTube channel 

Before that fight, Sterling defended his belt against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. According to the fighter, he hadn’t recovered properly for the UFC 292 clash against Sean O’Malley. However, the UFC left him with no choice but to take the fight. Subsequently, Sterling lost the fight via a brutal TKO, which ended his title reign. 

Aljamain Sterling wasn’t excited to watch the clip of Hunter Campbell convincing him to take the O’Malley fight, and says he had to “relive all those emotions again”

“It really did piss me off in that moment of time… they don’t [usually] make fights the night of the fight, but… pic.twitter.com/8c191zNrNK

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 10, 2024

Behind the scenes footage shows Hunter Campbell convincing Aljamain Sterling not to pull out of the Sean O’Malley fight

Dana White was not happy with Aljamain’s hesitance to take the fight 😬#UFC #MMA

pic.twitter.com/NC9DjJpnXX

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 8, 2024

Aljamain Sterling was a dominant champion and despite his controversial title win, he managed to redeem himself. The fighter defended his title thrice before losing it. However, nobody expected his fight with O’Malley was gonna be his last bout in the bantamweight division.

Sean O’Malley believes he saved the bantamweight division by beating Aljamain Sterling 

After the UFC 292 defeat, Aljamain Sterling moved up to the featherweight division at the iconic UFC 300. ‘Funkmaster’ defeated Calvin Kattar via unanimous decision but failed to impress the crowd. It was a boring fight and many fans complained about Sterling’s approach. His was the only fight at UFC 300 that did not please the audience. However, the historic card was well worth the hype despite a rather lackluster outing by Sterling.

Sean O’Malley opens up about Aljamain Sterling’s featherweight debut (via Imago)

Sean O’Malley talked about Sterling’s performance on his YouTube channel and pointed out that the crowd was unhappy. The fighter then mentioned that he saved the bantamweight division by dethroning Sterling. 

Aljo’ looked good. He made Calvin look bad. I think it was three times, three different times, the crowd was booing. just taking him down, holding him down and just holding him there, which, I mean, that’s just his style. You know, I saved the bantamweight division. 
Sean O’Malley via his YouTube channel 

The bantamweight division is stacked with absolute killers, and everyone wants a shot at O’Malley. ‘Suga’ is expected to defend his belt against Merab Dvalishvili, Sterling’s training partner. With the crown on the line, Merab has a chance to avenge Sterling in the future. 

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