Aljamain Sterling reveals plans to face Sean O'Malley next

Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley have traded plenty of insults over the past several years. The bantamweight champion recently revealed that he is planning to bring the talks to fruition by facing 'Sugar' after his latest title defense against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, 'Funk Master' stated:

"I was promised O'Malley after the T.J. [Dillashaw] fight and if I were to look good doing it - I did. That got changed. I don't know if I'm giving up too much information, I hope not, I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the a**. That didn't happen so now they put Henry in front of me and it was serious. This is about a competitor versus competitor so I accepted the fight."

Sterling continued:

"I told them, 'well after, then do I get to beat up the golden chicken?' and they said yes, but we'll see. If it's another push - say I steam roll Henry in the first round, I take him down, I strangle his a**, have his little feet dangling in the air and then I get on the mic, I call out O'Malley, and then they say no then I don't know, maybe I just go [to] 145. I don't know."

Check out Aljamain Sterling's comments on facing Sean O'Malley below:

Aljamain Sterling will look to defend his bantamweight title for the third time at UFC 288. If successful, he would tie Dominick Cruz and T.J. Dillashaw for the most title defenses in UFC bantamweight history.

'Funk Master' would become the first bantamweight with three consecutive title defenses. A victory would likely set up a highly-anticipated bout against Sean O'Malley.

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Michael Chiesa believes Sean O'Malley is next to face Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling is set to face Henry Cejudo in the first main event of his UFC career. No.12-ranked welterweight Michael Chiesa believes 'Funk Master' will retain his throne and face Sean O'Malley next, stating:

"I'm picking Aljamain Sterling to win in the main event... [What's next for him?] It's the money fight, it's the guy at the top of the heap that's not named Merab Dvalishvili. It's Sean O'Malley and it is the fight that makes sense. He's coming off a win over Petr Yan, he's the marquee name in this division, he's one of the superstars in the UFC that's got a lot of eyes on him."

Check out Michael Chiesa's prediction for UFC 288 and the bantamweight division below (starting at the 1:14 mark):