Aljamain Sterling laughs off Sean O’Malley‘s criticism and questions his commitment as they prepare for their main event bantamweight clash at UFC 292.
Aljamain Sterling couldn’t help but laugh at Sean O’Malley’s criticism as the bantamweight fighters prepared for their main event clash at UFC 292 in August. Despite Sterling’s assurance that he’d be ready for the fight, O’Malley questioned his commitment after he admitted that competing again was a quick turnaround after going five rounds with Henry Cejudo in May. O’Malley slammed Sterling, stating, “you have four months [to get ready] … take two months off, heal up, and then train hard for two months, it ain’t f****** science, or is it?”
Sterling, in response, clarified that it’s not science but rather math. In a Twitter video, Sterling said, “First off, it’s not science you freaking numb-nut moron, it’s called math. Mathematics. You probably forgot because you might have dropped out of high school or maybe you smoked all your brains away and you completely just forgot the difference between science and mathematics when you’re dealing with numbers. You know the big numbers that I like to make when I cash out for whooping that ass.” Furthermore, Sterling stated that he would show up on August 19, not because of O’Malley, but because Dana White was cutting him a check for the fight.
Sterling also addressed O’Malley’s jabs that UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya managed to compete four times over the span of 12 months, so Sterling should be able to do the same. As it stands, Sterling has defended his title three times in the past 13 months, making him one of the most active champions on the UFC roster alongside Adesanya and featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski. Sterling then compared his resume to O’Malley’s, who most recently competed in a three-round fight against ex-UFC champion Petr Yan following a bout against Pedro Munhoz in July 2022 that ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke in the second round.
Given the heated back-and-forth between Sterling and O’Malley, it’s likely they will have plenty more to say between now and August 19 when they are scheduled to meet.