“It was very odd to me” - Aljamain Sterling finally breaks silence on referee Marc Goddard’s controversial stoppage at UFC 292

Aljamain Sterling has shared his perspective on whether Marc Goddard prematurely stopped the UFC 292 main event.

Saturday night witnessed Sean O'Malley make history, securing a TKO finish against Sterling to claim the UFC bantamweight championship. O'Malley dropped 'Funk Master' with a powerful right hand in the second round, ultimately ending the fight with ground and pound.

It didn’t take long for some fans to question Godddard’s stoppage. One fan addressed the situation by saying this on Twitter:

“I like Marc as a ref man but d*mn he be stopping championship fights way too early. How did Lemos get given so many chances to survive but the Sterling fight was called off so quickly”

Sterling responded by saying:

“It was very odd to me. Rolling backwards to all 4’s isn’t showing intelligent defense, I guess. I never “went out”, was moving the on the ground, but that’s the game. All comes down to the ref judgement, which is out of my control. I should’ve never rushed the 2nd RD action. That’s on me”

O’Malley’s win on Saturday night ended Sterling’s title reign dating back to March 2021. ‘Funk Master’ is still considered by some people to be the greatest bantamweight of all time after securing title defenses against Petr Yan, TJ Dillashaw, and Henry Cejudo.

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Aljamain Sterling wants rematch against Sean O’Malley

During the buildup to UFC 292, Aljamain Sterling continuously teased a move up to featherweight after fighting Sean O’Malley. Now that he lost by knockout, Sterling seems to have second thoughts. ‘Funk Master’ had this to say during his UFC 292 post-fight press conference:

“I don’t know which way I’m gonna go with things. First and foremost, I would love an opportunity to run that back and just to get some definitive answers.”

While Aljamain Sterling has a case for an immediate rematch, Sean O'Malley is focusing on other title contenders. Shortly after getting his hand raised, ‘Sugar’ told Joe Rogan he plans to fight Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in December.

Three years ago, Vera handed O’Malley his first professional MMA loss with a first-round knockout in the co-main event of UFC 252. The timeline for returns also matches up as ‘Chito’ fought on the UFC 292 main card, defeating Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision.