Aljamain Sterling: Sean O'Malley won't get another 'layup' after UFC 316 loss
Aljamain Sterling thinks Sean O'Malley won't be getting any more favorable matchups from the UFC.
O'Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) suffered his second straight loss to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) when he was submitted in Saturday's UFC 316 main event.
Sterling (24-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC) has been very vocal about O'Malley's road to the top, which saw him jump from a controversial win over Petr Yan at UFC 280, to a title fight against him at UFC 292. O'Malley knocked out Sterling to claim the bantamweight title.
But now that O'Malley has lost to the champion two-straight times, Sterling says "The Suga Show" will have to face the top contenders at bantamweight, which may not be favorable stylistic matchups for him.
"The UFC is probably not going to do him another layup favor in terms of stylistic matchup," Sterling said on his YouTube channel. "He's going to have to fight the toughest guys at this point. I'm curious to see what is he going to look like in his approach, what is he going to change, and will people look at his style now, and realize what I've been saying from before years ago: He's good, but there's a couple of things. His style is very good and catered to winning against guys who are stationary fighters, and they don't move a whole lot and predominantly not a grappler – and he looks like a world beater.
"Now we've seen with some opposition and everyone kind of figuring him out, in the top five we know is a different ball game. Just like the Yan fight when he went from Pedro Munhoz to Yan. So, I'm curious to see how he's going to bounce back. Even if he loses the next one, will it be a good performance? Because if he stays the same, a lot of people realize he's good, but if you do X, Y and Z like Mario Bautista, those are tough fights for you. Kyler Phillips, those are tough fights for you. Merab, Umar (Nurmagomedov), those are tough fights. Even a Petr Yan, who's a little bit more stationary, but once he gets moving and starts putting those hands on you, it's a tougher fight for him."
Sterling, who initially threw his own name in the hat, had a few suggestions of who the UFC could match O'Malley up with next.
"The only person I can think of stylistically which would be a relatively favorable fight for him would be a guy like Patchy Mix," Sterling continued. "Maybe Aiemann Zahabi because Aiemann's kind of just in the pocket with you. Those would be some good stylistic fights for him. Give him Song Yadong."
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