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Sean O’Malley’s Reason Behind Picking Aljamain Sterling Fight at UFC Boston Revealed

Published 03/03/2024, 1:38 PM EST

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via Imago

Although he lost his UFC 252 fight to Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in their co-main event clash, Sean O’Malley maintains he is undefeated. This is because he claims he only lost because of a freak injury, which essentially incapacitated his right leg temporarily.

And this week, he will face Vera as his first title defense at their UFC 299 main event clash at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida this Sunday. ‘Suga’, who is one of the more recognizable stars in the UFC, joined ESPN’s Brett Okamoto for an interview and revealed his experience of having performed at the highest level.

Sean O’Malley felt there were no Sterling fans at their UFC 292 clash

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Sean O’Malley fought then-champion Aljamain Sterling at the top of UFC 292 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. ‘Suga’ the underdog going into the bout caught ‘Funkmaster’ with a beautiful counter right in the second round to become the new UFC bantamweight champion.

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Speaking to Okamoto about the experience of fighting in Boston, O’Malley recounted the harrowing experience of headlining an event in an arena where he was the centerpiece. “The reason I fought in Boston was it made sense… I’ve never been in an arena obviously I was in the main event, I was the main attraction. Everyone was looking at me. So it was a certain feeling but even not being in that position, it was the craziest arenas I’ve ever been in,” O’Malley said.

‘Suga’ recalled the electric atmosphere of the arena, and the unequivocal support of the crowd that he received there. “Like it was 100% O’Malley fans, like there was no ‘Aljo’ fans… If you were in the arena you would know there was no Aljo fans and Boston was crazy. Miami is going to be a little bit different,” he added. And as O’Malley sets up to avenge the only loss in his career, he has another superstar in the making already calling him out.

Ilia Topuria floats fight with ‘Suga’

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After undefeated phenom Ilia Topuria defeated Alexander Volkanovski to become the new featherweight champion at their UFC 298 clash last month, Sean O’Malley, who was in attendance, was caught saying this was just what he had wanted.

The two had been feuding over social media prior to Topuria becoming champion and had called out each other despite being in different weight classes. Clearly, ‘El Matador’s first choice of opponent, Conor McGregor is not on the horizon.

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While Topuria may not have a clear opponent for his first title defense with max Holloway set to face Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, Merab Dvalishvili has officially become the number one title contender after his UFC 298 victory over Henry Cejudo. O’Malley has confirmed that the would be fighting Dvalishvili next if he defeats Vera, but a Topuria clash is certainly being set as Topuria took to Twitter to ask fans “Me vs. Suga. Who wants to see it?”. What do you think about O’Malley fighting Topuria after UFC 299?

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Written by:

Kanishk Thakur

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Kanishk Thakur is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports with nearly 5 years of professional writing experience. Kanishk has expertly covered the heated rivalries of the fight game, and delivered meticulous reports of payouts of PPV events and Fight Nights, in addition to covering the personal side of fighters outside the sport. He is also an ardent Joe Rogan fan, who hopes to draw in more fans to the sport as Rogan did for him.
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Edited by:

Anuj Jacob