LAS VEGAS – By his own admission, 2023 has been a “long, crazy year” for Aljamain Sterling. A big reason for that is how his UFC bantamweight championship reign played out and ultimately ended.
Sterling first defended his title May 6 at UFC 288 by winning a split decision against Henry Cejudo. Afterward, he expressed his desire to take just a little time off – one month to decompress – before jumping back into training camp for a fight with Sean O’Malley. The UFC, however, was intent on booking them to headline UFC 292 roughly three months later on Aug. 19.
That put a lot of pressure on Sterling and even though the date was sooner than he would’ve liked, he accepted. And then he lost his title to O’Malley by second-round TKO in Boston.
