The year 2023 has many exciting fights to offer to the UFC community. The coming few months will witness the comeback of some powerful champions back to the octagon. At the moment, the promotion has provided clarity on the return of Jon Jones and Conor McGregor. Recently, to add to the excitement, the former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo’s upcoming fight was also made official. ‘Triple C’ was eagerly waiting for his comeback. It was largely assumed by Cejudo and his fellow fighters that he would be back for a fight against Sean O’Malley or Aljamain Sterling.

However, the possibility of a fight between Sterling and ‘Triple C’ was much lower, as ‘Funk Master’ was under treatment because of a torn biceps. The 33-year-old has now decided to not let his injury hold him back from another fight. A victory against Henry Cejudo can lead to Sterling making UFC history; by setting the record for most consecutive bantamweight title defenses. When the UFC finally made the fight between the two official for UFC 288, it was ‘Sugar’ who lost an opportunity that he had been eagerly waiting for.

Sean O’Malley might serve as a backup despite his wishes

The #1-ranked bantamweight fighter, O’Malley’s last bout, was at UFC 280 against Petr Yan, where he won via decision. Cejudo declared that he is looking forward to a comeback match. Following his announcement, both ‘Sugar’ and ‘The Messenger’ had some Twitter exchanges stating that they both couldn’t wait to defeat each other.

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Now that the UFC has announced the match between Cejudo and Sterling for UFC 288, O’Malley is out of the game. However, the one last option left for ‘Sugar’ is to be a backup.

In an interview with ESPN MMA, O’Malley confirmed that he was asked to be a backup by the promotion. Nonetheless, he is not ready, considering the smaller paycheck.

Talking to ESPN MMA, O’Malley said, “I feel I’ll be in shape and ready if it happens,” ‘Sugar’ continued. “I’ll officially go into camp and will be sparring in the next couple weeks. I’ll pretty much do a full camp, just without a weight cut at the end. I do think they’ll both make the fight”

However, taking the champ’s shoulder injury into account, ‘Sugar’ said, “But Aljo has that biceps injury, and he’ll be grappling a lot for this fight, so I’ll be ready.”

During the conversation, O’Malley talked about how he was soon going to start the camp. If Sterling was not able to compete due to his bicep tear; O’Malley wants to be ready to fight the former two-divisional champion.

Who do you want to see face Sterling, Cejudo, or O’Malley? Let us know in the comments below.

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