Aljamain
Sterling is willing to give credit where credit is due
following his second-round technical knockout loss to Sean
O’Malley in the UFC
292 headliner.
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“He was better than what I thought in his footwork,” Sterling said
of O’Malley at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “That was
one of the things I tried to get guys to emulate, because I knew
that is a hard thing to do. I do it myself when I go side to side,
but it’s different when someone else is doing it to you, and I
can’t track this motherf—-er down. I tracked him down a couple of
times, but then he would spin out at the last second. I think I
threw a side kick, and he was able to pivot out beautifully. He did
a couple things really, really well.
“I would have liked to get him down to the ground to really see how
good he is down there, but the one thing I knew, we were doing a
good job throwing that overhand right into the takedown. He threw
the front kick, and I was like, ‘All right, I think I got his
timing.’ I threw the left hand, and as I was coming down, he
stepped back and threw a beautiful counter right and it was
clean.”
With that, Sterling’s reign as bantamweight champion came to an
end. While the stoppage was viewed by some as premature, “Funk
Master” ultimately couldn’t fault referee Marc Goddard
for his decision.
“I felt like the fight could’ve still kept going, to be honest,”
Sterling said. “I rolled over to try to come back up, and as soon
as he stepped in, I was fine. It was just one of those things. I
can’t be mad at the ref. It is what it is.”
Sterling entered UFC 292 as a favorite thanks to his grappling
ability, but he admits that attempting to force the issue might
have led to his demise.
“He stayed disciplined to his game plan, and I kind of let trying
to be a little bit more of an exciting style for the fans play a
factor … We’ve seen bad fights before, where it’s like not much
happens, because no one wants to make that grave mistake. I made
the mistake, Sean capitalized. I paid for it.”
Meanwhile, the crowd at TD Garden was clearly behind O’Malley, who
has also received a big push from the promotion. Sterling claims
that the crowd’s negative reaction toward him didn’t affect
him.
The short answer, no, the boos don’t bother me,” he said. “I’m glad
the crowd actually has a reaction.”
Prior to UFC 292, Sterling indicated that Saturday would likely be
his last fight at 135 pounds. The loss has him reconsidering that
decision.
“I would like to think that I’ve earned my right to get an
immediate rematch,” he said. “I’m going to remember this night for
a very long time. It’s going to fuel me for just bigger and greater
things.”