A star is born in Boston. Sean O'Malley backed up all the pre-fight talk at UFC 292 on Saturday night when he sent bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling crashing into the mat for a TKO win in Round 2 of their main event tilt.
O'Malley, 28, shook off any concerns about his championship mettle by landing a picture-perfect right hand on Sterling's chin before rushing in and getting the finish with follow-up shots. The visual of O'Malley dropping Sterling slightly resembled Conor McGregor's shocking title win against Jose Aldo in 2015. O'Malley did well in the brief fight to keep Sterling and his strong wrestling game at bay. O'Malley stifled Sterling's forward pressure with direction changes, remained patient offensively and found the perfect punch.
"Honestly, this is the most nervous I've ever been for a fight. In my eyes, Aljamain Sterling is the greatest bantamweight of all time," O'Malley said during his post-fight interview. "I always say it only takes one mistake with me. I don't even know if that's a mistake. I'm just that f---ing good!"
O'Malley is among the most popular cross-over stars on the UFC's roster, but there were those questioning his potential as a world champion. Many believed that O'Malley took an undeserved decision against former champion Petr Yan to earn the title shot. Yan is currently on a career-first losing streak. Pair that with Sterling's status as the most successful UFC bantamweight champion of all time and leaving Boston as champion was a tall task. But O'Malley erased all those doubts in a flash.
"This is the beginning of the Suga era," O'Malley said. "I'm running this shit until 2035."
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Sterling had anticipated a move up to the featherweight division after UFC 292. The KO loss to O'Malley has Sterling reconsidering that decision.
"Sean is a lot better than I thought," Sterling said post-fight. "Congrats to him and his team. I can't say anything bad about the guy. This is nothing but respect at the end of the day... Joe, I've lost before. I've been knocked out before. I picked myself up off the floor and became a champion.
"I definitely need to go back and re-evaluate some things. If he caught me like that, I can only imagine what Volkanovski will do."
O'Malley called out Marlon Vera for a fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in December. "Chito" is the only person to defeat O'Malley in 19 professional fights, handing him a first-round TKO loss in August 2020 when O'Malley appeared to injure his leg. Vera defeated Pedro Munhoz earlier in the evening.
Elsewhere on the card, Zhang Weili reminded many why there's such a giant gap between her and the rest of the division. Weili scored a brutal decision win over Amanda Lemos to retain the women's strawweight crown by wide scorecards. Despite a sneaky submission attempt by Lemos near the end of Round 1, Weili was nearly one-way traffic in terms of strikes landed in the fight. In fact, Weili set a record for biggest strike disparity in women's UFC history. The win kicked off her second reign as champion after taking the belt from Carla Esparza by submission in November.
CBS Sports was with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 292 below.
UFC 292 card and results
- Sean O'Malley def. Aljamain Sterling (c) via second-round TKO (punches)
- Zhang Weili (c) def. Amanda Lemos via unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 49-45)
- Ian Machado Garry def. Neil Magny via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-24)
- Mario Bautista def. Da'Mon Blackshear via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Marlon Vera def. Pedro Munhoz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Brad Tavares def. Chris Weidman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Gregory Rodrigues def. Denis Tiuliulin via first-round knockout (elbow)
- Kurt Holobaugh def. Austin Hubbard via second-round submission (triangle choke)
- Brad Katona def. Cody Gibson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Andre Petroski def. Gerald Meerschaert via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Natalia Silva def. Andrea Lee via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Karine Silva def. Maryna Moroz via first-round submission (guillotine choke)
