Midnight Mania! Coach: UFC ‘for sure’ wants ‘superstar’ Sean O’Malley to dethrone Aljamain Sterling

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The connection between Aljamain Sterling and UFC is strained, to say the least.

The UFC Bantamweight champion has defended his belt 3 times, most not too long ago defeating Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 earlier this month. UFC President Dana White shortly lined up Sterling to face Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 19, 2023, a moderately fast turnaround for “Funkmaster.”

Since then, there’s been drama. Sterling is feeling the damage of three title fights in 13 months, and he’s uncertain that his physique might be able to carry out. Ever since he expressed these considerations, he’s been slammed by White, who argues that Sterling “can’t get out of his personal manner.”

Proper or unsuitable, all of it appears to favor the following challenger, Sean O’Malley. “Suga” has been getting ready for a title battle since his October 2022 victory over Petr Yan, whereas Sterling enters an abbreviated camp doubtlessly with accidents. If that’s intentional, O’Malley’s longtime coach Tim Welch wouldn’t be stunned.

When requested if UFC desires O’Malley to win on The MMA Hour, Welch responded (by way of MMAFighting), “Yeah, for certain. Having ‘Sugar’ be the champion, what different bantamweight in historical past has simply one-punched individuals and walked off like Mark Hunt? A bantamweight. A tall, skinny child with tattoos and curly hair, one-punching individuals and strolling off. The UFC is aware of what they’re doing. ‘Sugar’ is an enormous famous person and the UFC helped with that, so I’m certain the UFC would like to see a KO artist that’s as flashy as Sean be the champion.”

Regardless of the momentum behind his athlete, Welch doesn’t underestimate Sterling. His battle staff has expertise in opposition to Sterling, and so they’re nicely conscious of his strengths, notably on the canvas.

“Oh. for certain [Sterling is the toughest matchup]. For certain,” Welch continued. “Our professor, Augusto ‘Tanquinho’ Mendes, he received the ADCC and he’s very sturdy. He’s very sturdy and he’s one of many best grapplers on the planet on the weight, and he’s even talked about how sturdy Aljo is. He’s simply so bodily sturdy, and he’s not solely a superb wrestler who’s going to get on prime and sit within the guard and never know how you can go the guard, he’s going to go, he’s going to maneuver to half guard, punch you, transfer to mount, take your again.

“He’s actually good at jiu-jitsu and he’s an knowledgeable back-taker. You make one mistake with Aljo and he’s going to be in your again for the remainder of the spherical. He’s bodily and he’s an athlete, and he’s not tremendous fundamental on his toes. He’s tremendous funky on his toes, throwing random, form of spazzy stuff. It makes it tremendous harmful. It makes him onerous to organize for. I undoubtedly assume he’s essentially the most harmful bantamweight.”

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