"One guy he's beaten that's still in the UFC" - Sean O'Malley needs a win at UFC 292 to "validate" himself in the division, says Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling wants to send a message to Sean O'Malley at UFC 292 next weekend. The bantamweight champion doesn't believe that O'Malley's strength of schedule warrants his No.1 ranking at 135 pounds, and 'Funk Master' intends on showing 'Sugar' how many levels there are to MMA.

O'Malley will be entering the ring 10 months since his last fight, a back-and-forth war with Petr Yan at UFC 280 in October 2022. 'Sugar' won the bout via split decision, which Aljamain Sterling believes is Sean O'Malley's only valid win so far.

'Funk Master' will be looking to defend his title twice in short order, as he will be facing O'Malley just over three months after his split-decision victory over Henry Cejudo at UFC 288.

Ahead of their main event clash next weekend, Aljamain Sterling was interviewed by TMZ Sports, where he said:

"Obviously Sean wants this [win] really really bad to validate himself finally, as a worthy person in this UFC bantamweight division. Let's be honest, the matchups he's had, there's only one guy he's beaten, by split decision, that's still in the UFC. And that's Petr Yan. Everybody else, they're no longer in the UFC company. You can look at my resume, everyone is still here. I beat a lot of quality, good guys."

Watch the video below from 2:50:

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Sean O'Malley plans on finishing Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292

Sean O'Malley and Aljamain Sterling are set for an epic bantamweight title clash in the main event of UFC 292 next weekend.

The bout will be a traditional striker versus grappler matchup, with 'Sugar' holding the striking advantage and the champion being, without doubt, the superior grappler.

Sterling is known to cut an enormous amount of weight to make the 135-pound limit, and two title fights in a short space of time could impact 'Funk Master' negatively.

Sean O'Malley has been vocal about how much of an effect the weight cut could have on Aljamain Sterling, and 'Sugar' believes it could contribute to him getting the KO win on fight night. He stated during a recent interview on The MMA Hour:

"I will land this right hand. You go and look at my entire UFC career, how many people... whether I've finished them in the first round or not, I dropped a lot of people in the first round. He's cutting a lot of weight and that plays a role in the shots you can take. So, I plan on going out there and delivering the shots that he can't take."

Watch the video below (12:57):