Cody Garbrandt believes Sean O'Malley being champion is good for the UFC bantamweight division, but he doesn’t expect it to last.
O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) dethroned Aljamain Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) by second-round TKO to claim the 135-pound title in this past Saturday’s UFC 292 headliner at TD Garden in Boston.
Garbrandt (13-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) was booked to face O’Malley’s teammate Mario Bautista this past Saturday but withdrew due to injury. O’Malley poked fun at Garbrandt and said he dodged a bullet by pulling out.
Trash talk aside, Garbrandt is happy for O’Malley but says Sterling’s game plan cost him.
“I’m happy for ‘Sugar’ Sean to finally get out there and – he had a lot of hype, and he went out there and he rose to the occasion and put away Aljamain,” Garbrandt said on Michael Bisping’s “Believe You Me” podcast. “Looking at that fight, I think that Aljamain was just too adamant on getting it to the ground. He wasn’t very comfortable with the movement. I have the best footwork and movement in the whole bantamweight division, and I knew that was going to be a problem.
“‘Sugar’ Sean is a counter striker, and he (Sterling) lunged in, left himself open, and you can’t do that with a good counter striker. He knows what Aljamain’s game plan was: Get him to the ground and wrestle him. ‘Sugar’ Sean was like, ‘I’m literally going to fight tooth and nail to not get taken down.’ Aljamain made a constant mistake that made him lose the title.”
As happy has he is for O’Malley, former champion Garbrandt questions his longevity as champion.
“But like I said, I’m happy for ‘Sugar’ Sean,” Garbrandt continued. “I think it’s great he’s a champion in our division, I think he has a lot of holes and weaknesses that are going to be exposed a lot. But right now, let him enjoy the championship and what he was able to do on Saturday night.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
