Sean O’Malley made his first bantamweight title defence against Marlon Vera at UFC 299 with a dominant performance but was met with criticism from former champion, Aljamain Sterling.
Aljamain Sterling Criticises The UFC’s Matchmaking
Despite heaving praise on ‘Suga’s’ performance, Sterling still raised the question as to why someone ‘more deserving’ was not in there instead of ‘Chito’.
On the former champion’s YouTube channel, he said: “You defended the belt against a guy who wasn’t even ranked in the top five. [The UFC] moved him up to the top five to make it look like it was better like he fought a top-five opponent. How did Chito move up in the rankings? Who did he beat to move up in the rankings?”
Although it was an emphatic first title defence for O’Malley, ‘Funkmaster’ still believes that retaining the belt against the second-best person in the division is way more impressive.
He said: “Yeah, a win. But, now, you kind of have that question mark over, well, if you fought the next best guy, would that fight have looked the same if you fought [Cory] Sandhagen, if you fought Merab [Dvalishvili], would that fight have looked the same?”
Sterling Reacts to Sean O’Malley’s Post-Fight Callout
After brushing Chito aside, out-striking the Ecuadorian by 230-89, and securing the unanimous decision victory, O’Malley called out the current featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria.
Sticking up for his friend and number one bantamweight contender, Merab Dvalishvili, Sterling had a sour taste left in his mouth when O’Malley called out the wrong Georgian.
Sterling said: “He should have called out Merab [Dvalishvili] and did the right thing. I think it’s kind of ridiculous for him to say, ‘Dana, get the jet to Spain’, like what are you talking about dude?”
As of now, it only makes sense for O’Malley and Topuria to make defences in their respective divisions and generate their legacies before jumping weight too quickly.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
