(ALSO SEE: Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Aljamain Sterling after UFC 292 title loss?)
Call it a coronation. Call it destiny accomplished. Call it whatever you’d like. Sean O'Malley is the new bantamweight champion after finishing Aljamain Sterling in the UFC 292 main event.
After entering the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series with some clout already on his name, everything in his career has been heading toward what happened in the main event at TD Garden in Boston, when O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) dropped and stopped Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) early in the second round for the TKO and title change.
Everyone had an opinion about O’Malley coming into this fight. Some said he didn’t deserve to be there. Some said he’d be exposed. The one person who seemed to have no doubts about whether be belonged and his chances of winning was O’Malley himself. He manifested this moment, then delivered in a near flawless manner when the opportunity arrived.
UFC commentator Jon Anik described O’Malley as a “big-game player” when he stepped into the octagon, and that turned out to be exactly the case. He showed up, and now the UFC has a champion on its hands that has the chance to be legitimate crossover star and a major profit-earner for the company.
That all hinges on O’Malley’s ability to hang onto that strap, though, and in the shark-infested waters of the 135-pound division, that’s far from a given.
Despite his position as champion, O’Malley still hasn’t fought many of the top-ranked names in the weight class. There are all sorts of fresh matchups for him, yet all signs point to his first title defense being a rematch.
It won’t be a rematch against Sterling, either. Marlon Vera is in a great position to get a second fight with O’Malley after his UFC 292 unanimous decision win over Pedro Munhoz, and it’s a fight the UFC should have no problem selling.
Vera is the only fighter to defeat O’Malley in MMA competition – a first-round TKO of “Suga” at UFC 252 in August 2020. Giving O’Malley the chance to avenge the lone blemish on his record for his first title defense is a storyline anyone can get invested in, and there’s a good chance it happens.
“Chito” isn’t the most deserving contender right now, but he’s in the right place at the right time. With Cory Sandhagen and Merab Dvalishvili both dealing with injuries that are likely to keep them sidelined until 2024, there is a clear path to booking O’Malley vs. Vera, and it’s hard to imagine the UFC resisting this perfectly teed up pairing after UFC 292.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
