Win or lose, UFC 292 will likely mark bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling’s final fight at 135 pounds.
Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) defends his title against Sean O'Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.
Sterling will make a three-month turnaround to face O’Malley after edging out Henry Cejudo in a five-round battle last month at UFC 288. The quick turnaround has accentuated the toll of Sterling’s weight cut.
“Win or learn, this is probably my last fight at bantamweight,” Sterling said on “Smack Talk With Sandhu.” “Even if I were to learn and I didn’t get my hand raised, it damn sure ain’t because of Sean O’Malley running me out of the division.
“It’s more so this sh*t is getting old, man. It hurts. You think I wouldn’t like to just turn around? Yeah, I could turn around and go fight 145 and go fight three-and-a-half months later, which is pretty much what this fight is. It’s the weight cut.”
Sterling was initially skeptical about fighting so soon but ultimately accepted. “The Funkmaster” is irked by how the odds are stacked against him with the big cutdown and lack of time to properly heal, but he looks forward to proving the doubters wrong once again.
“If it’s me, I want to fight you at your best,” Sterling said. “Not when I could feel like I could get you when you’re weak. Yeah, some people might say it’s smarter to do that. Yeah, it is tactically, but you get no respect for that. And if you go out there and get smashed – even having those advantages going in, bro, you should reevaluate your career and see what you really want to do.
“That’s my mentality going in. You want to take the easy road and try to be a little b*tch and get somebody in there faster because you know you’re going to have those advantages because I just came out of a really tough fight with Henry.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
