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Bring the ‘Suga’: O’Malley secures the Bantamweight Title
‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley couldn’t have written the script any better. The 28-year old out of Helena, Montana had waited for this moment since he started his MMA career in 2013. Walking out to Lupe Fiasco’s ‘superstar’ he met the Boston crowd in a stoic demeanor at TD Garden. O'malley's reputation had been centered on his flashy style of fighting, colorful tattoos and his rainbow hair. For some of his haters, his record of 16-1, had been unimpressive and some even accused him of having ‘Dana White Privilege. As he made his way to the cage, it was easy to know who the crowd wanted to win. Once O'Malley finished his signature pre-fight ritual only one thing was clear, if he really wanted to be known as a superstar, he would have to rip the belt off of Aljamain Sterling.
Sterling, who some had already dubbed the greatest UFC Bantamweight ever, had won nine fights in a row. Sterling had admitted that win or lose his mind was on moving up to Featherweight due to the toll the weight cut was having on his body. The talk going into this match up would be mostly about Sterling’s ability to take his opponent down and control his position well enough to secure a submission. O’Malley’s striking had gotten him this far, the last thing he needed was to be taken down and become Sterling’s 9th victory by submission.
The first round was mostly a feeling out process with both fighters trading shots. As the second round started, Sterling tried his best to close out the space between himself O’malley by pinning him against the cage. Each time, O'malley would show his elite footwork to sprawl and get back to the center of the octagon. Sterling had only had two takedown attempts and would get caught with his hand in the cookie jar after struggling to secure another takedown. O’Malley baited Sterling to either go for another takedown attempt or a jab. With the separation between both fighters, Sterlings jab created the perfect opportunity for O’Malley to counter with his long reach. O’Malley dropped Sterling in the second round and the rest is history. O’Malley will look for his first title defense against Marlon “Chito” Vera in December.
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