Aljamain Sterling sent Bantamweight’s top contenders into a frenzy after sharing that he’s dealing with a bicep injury.
The 135-pound champion and former dual-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) titlist, Henry Cejudo, have each said they’ve received offers to fight next. There hasn’t been any progression since the claims, however, and the fans and fighters are getting impatient. Sterling’s news of a partially torn bicep didn’t help things.
Today (Thurs., Jan. 12, 2023), No. 1-ranked contender, Sean O’Malley, tweeted, “I’m the Champ and it feels great,” prompting an “Lol” response from Sterling.
“They hear what they want to hear,” Sterling tweeted. “The king ain’t going anywhere and once we figure things out on the doc side and then with the UFC either one of those side shows can get smoked.
“.@HenryCejudo Why you running Tubbs?” he continued. “I never said the fight is off! I’m handling my bicep with the UFC team and doctors. You can wait another month to get your [peach emoji] kicked. Because if you lose to @SugaSeanMMA, kiss your chance goodbye to face the real King.”
O’Malley is currently planning to wait for the winner of an expected Sterling versus Cejudo title clash before fighting again. “Sugar” was informed that he’ll be next in line for the title, therefore, giving him no reason to risk his opportunity in the meantime.
Sterling and O’Malley both last fought at UFC 280 in Oct. 2022, picking up big victories over former champions, T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan, respectively. For Sterling, the win over Dillashaw was his second title defense with his previous one coming over Yan earlier that year (April 2022).