MMA
UFC 292: Sean O'Malley blasts Aljamain Sterling with second-round TKO to become new bantamweight champion
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Aljamain Sterling pressured and lunged forward with a left hand.
It proved to be a mistake, as Sean O'Malley calmly stepped back and unloaded a picture-perfect right counterpunch that detonated across Sterling's jaw. Seconds later, O'Malley was crowned the new bantamweight world champion by second-round TKO to end UFC 292 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. on Saturday night with a bang.
"In my eyes, Aljamain Sterling is the best bantamweight of all time, so yeah, I was a little bit nervous but for this fight but I never lost the confidence because I know what I possess in this f—ing right hand, baby!" a victorious O'Malley told Joe Rogan in the Octagon.
"I said going into this fight that it only takes one mistake against me."
After a relatively calm first round, when Sterling missed with that lunging straight left hand early in the second, O'Malley capitalized with a right that dropped "Funkmaster" with a thud.
A few hammerfists later and the ref stepped in and ended the bout right there, crowning the new champ who fittingly went from entering the Octagon to Lupe Fiasco's "Superstar" to pressing liftoff on his own superstardom.
"This is just the beginning of the 'Suga' era," O'Malley promised. "I'm running this s—t until 2035, baby!"
Sterling entered the fight with the most wins (14) in UFC bantamweight history and riding a nine-fight win streak in the division.
But after losing his title, Sterling could only muster up praise for O'Malley, saying: "Sean is a lot better than I thought, man."
Here's how the entire UFC 292: Sterling vs. O'Malley main card went.
