There is uncertainty around the booked Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight title fight despite UFC President, Dana White’s, recent announcement.
White revealed this week (Tues., May 16, 2023) that the match up between the top-tier Bantamweights was official for UFC 292 on Aug. 19, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. Unfortunately for the fighters, the announcement may have wound up being premature as Sterling responded to the news, stating he’s only verbally agreed and is still dealing with some injuries from his UFC 288 split decision win over Henry Cejudo.
With or without the champion, Sterling, O’Malley intends to compete on that date.
“I’m showing up Aug. 19 whether ‘Aljo’ shows up or they put someone else in there,” O’Malley said on The Bro’Malley Show. “Daddy’s there. Daddy’s main event, headlining for the belt regardless. Whether it’s him or not. That’s what it is, it is what it is.
“We’ll see how it plays out,” he concluded. “Still a long time. Big fights in between.”
Since his biggest career win over Petr Yan via split decision in Oct. 2022 (watch highlights), O’Malley has been waiting patiently for his promised crack at gold. O’Malley highlighted during the build to Sterling vs. Cejudo his disinterest in filling the backup fighter role. “Sugar” always wanted a full camp for his potential first title fight and he’s given himself that and then some with the time he’s waited.
“Big daddy’s the main event,” O’Malley said. “Nope, can’t call him ‘Aljocomain.’ He’s back-to-back headlining shows. Good for him. It still feels kind of real, but it still feels so far out that I think once it gets a little closer … because there’s still big fights coming. Once it’s like the next big fight — I feel like they announced it super far out. Dana was just too excited.
“First of all, ‘Aljo’ called Dana ‘Daddy Dana,’ which is really weird,” he continued. “He said, ‘What? Are you gonna ask ‘Daddy Dana’ to fight in August?’ I’m like, first of all, I’ve never called him ‘Daddy Dana’ so I don’t know where you got that term from. I call him ‘Uncle Dana.’ Calling another grown man ‘daddy,’ like that was out of his mouth. I never called him ‘Daddy Dana.’ It’s weird, but hey, everyone does their own thang.”