The UFC is heading back to Boston in August and there’s a highly anticipated bantamweight title fight that’s headlining the card. Dana White announced this evening that bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (23-3) will defend his title at UFC 292 against “Suga” Sean O’Malley (16-1, 1 NC).
The fight goes down on August 19th in Boston. Sterling will be looking to defend his title for the fourth time which would give him a strong argument as the greatest bantamweight champion in the promotion’s history. Sterling just fought a little over a week ago against Henry Cejudo.
In a razor close fight, Sterling walked away with a split decision win. Prior to the win over Cejudo, Sterling secured a TKO win over former champion TJ Dillashaw and a split decision win over former champion Petr Yan. The Yan win really solidified his status as champion after he first defeated Yan by a controversial DQ.
UFC 292
The Suga Show has been built up for the last several years by Sean O’Malley and the UFC. O’Malley first earned a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series and immediately drew people in. O’Malley won his first fight in the UFC before suffering an injury that kept him out of action for two years.
Upon returning, he’s gone 6-1, 1 NC in eight fights with the lone loss coming against Chito Vera. Most impressively, O’Malley defeated former champion Petr Yan last year in Abu Dhabi. Now, it was a controversial decision, but nevertheless, O’Malley got his hand raised.
Sterling is getting to fight the biggest star in the division and O’Malley gets his chance to become king of the bantamweights. I believe a lot of eyeballs are going to be on this fight come August 19th.