Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling expresses confusion over UFC choosing to give Sean O’Malley a rematch with Chito Vera, rather than prioritizing other contenders, suggesting teammate Merab Dvalishvili should get a title shot and hinting at a future move to the featherweight division if he doesn’t get a rematch.
Aljamain Sterling, the former UFC bantamweight champion, has expressed confusion over the UFC’s decision to allow Sean O’Malley a rematch with Chito Vera. Sterling cannot understand why the UFC would ignore other worthy contenders and focus only on O’Malley, given that Vera is ranked 6th. Sterling voiced this opinion on The MMA Hour and also questioned the UFC’s motivations for merging with WWE, stating, “why are we making this a WWE sport?” Sterling, despite his second-round knockout loss to current champ O’Malley at UFC 292, wishes for an immediate rematch. If O’Malley decides to delay his next fight until 2024, Sterling believes he has proven himself enough as a champion to warrant a swift rematch.
Sterling has a firm view of his and O’Malley’s roles. He said, “As you said, champions turn around, they do it all the time,”. He anticipates that O’Malley, too, should act “like all the other champions.” However, Sterling asserts that his longtime friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili is deserving of a title shot if O’Malley chooses to fight before year-end. The UFC 292 duel between Sterling and O’Malley is regarded as the promotion’s most significant bantamweight business. Notwithstanding, O’Malley’s immediate post-match request for a rematch with Vera, who previously broke his flawless record, left UFC CEO Dana White displeased with Sterling and Dvalishvili’s refusal to fight one another.
Sterling has held firm to his belief that the UFC’s fusion with WWE is turning the sport into more of a spectacle than a contest. “I’m just saying as a pure sport fanatic myself, I watch the fights week in and week out. I hate this model,” he said, and even questioned why contender Petr Yan was not selected for a rematch despite a comprehensive win over him. On related matters, Dvalishvili, who strutted around the octagon in O’Malley’s “Thriller” jacket at UFC 288, is ready to fight by the end of this year despite a hand injury sustained earlier, according to Sterling.
Before his defeat, Sterling was considering moving to the featherweight division to lessen the severity of his weight cuts. Predicated on the assumption that a title opportunity presents the most lucrative incentive for an athlete, Sterling argues that if a rematch is offered, he would accept it just as anyone else would. He says “This is not even about just fighting the best in the world anymore. It’s not even about that anymore. I’ve done that already.” Now, Sterling wants to maximize his earnings while still at his current age of 34 and to maintain as much of his faculties intact while also defeating more opponents before retiring. He believes his friend Dvalishvili deserves a shot at the title, having competed against everyone the UFC placed in his path. “How do you not give him an opportunity to make history?” Sterling implores, aiming for Dvalishvili to be the first Georgian champion in the history of UFC.