O’Malley Rules Out Sterling Rematch, McGregor Hints At Move Up To Middleweight
Sean O’Malley has dismissed the prospect of a rematch with Aljamain Sterling.
O’Malley stopped Sterling in the second round at UFC 292 to win the UFC bantamweight title. The defeat meant that Sterling’s nine-fight-win streak ended as his plans on moving up to featherweight suffered a massive blow.
In the aftermath of the defeat, Sterling was adamant about running things back. But it appears that O’Malley has other things on his mind as he dismissed the idea.
O’Malley On The Rematch
Sterling: “Rematch, Suga?”
O’Malley: “No. If it was close, maybe.”
O’Malley’s Future
Naturally, O’Malley has plenty of options moving forward. So much so that he even expressed the possibility of facing Gervonta Davis in a boxing match. Although there is nothing new in that regard, O’Malley is targeting the biggest events out there. And unfortunately for Sterling, he does not fit the bill.
McGregor On Strickland
Meanwhile, Conor McGregor has teased the idea of moving up to 185 pounds to face Sean Strickland.
The ‘Notorious’ made those comments following Strickland’s upset win over Israel Adesanya, as he outpointed the latter to win via a unanimous decision. The victory gave Strickland the middleweight title, which got McGregor’s attention.
The Irishman is a two-weight UFC champion having won belts at featherweight and lightweight. His accomplishments were even more impressive in that he became the first man to hold two titles at the same time in the UFC.
And now it appears that McGregor is looking to make history once again by winning a title in a third weight class. After all, he has spoken about this previously.
McGregor At 185
“I’m gonna give middleweight a got at some point 100%. I’m a big fridge at middleweight. But hot like oven same time, ye know yourself, catch it on PPV. Don’t know tho. It be hard work. Those rounds against those middle/lhw, they were alternating fresh each round. I’ve put in psycho work doing this job over the years,” McGregor
And now McGregor has doubled down on those comments.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 10, 2023
No mess, I’d fancy it. https://t.co/TYVkSSBzxu
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 10, 2023
Moving forward, McGregor and O’Malley do have plenty of options by virtue of being the sport’s two biggest stars.
