Aljamain Sterling: To say Sean O'Malley looked flat vs. Merab Dvalishvili 'makes no sense'
Aljamain Sterling rubbishes the claim that Sean O'Malley looked flat at UFC 306.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was taken down six times en route to a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in Saturday’s title-fight headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas.
UFC CEO Dana White said he thought O’Malley looked flat, and Sterling is bothered to see credit being taken away from his good friend and training partner. He thinks O’Malley has fought stationary targets for the most part in his career.
“I know people are trying to say that O’Malley looked flat. I think that’s the narrative that Dana was trying to push,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “If I’m being fair, if you look at his fights, his track record of all the guys he’s beaten, they were all punching bags for the most part. … I give credit where due. He was well prepared, but to say he looked flat makes no sense.
“The opening bell when he’s coming out with those feints, those hip twitches that he does so well where he’s shaking off to the side, shaking off to the other side and then looking for those long strikes, he came out exactly like Conor McGregor did against Khabib. Now I gave Merab that same exact look, coming out with the fingers, long, trying to hit the feints and trying to go to the body, trying to go up top.”
Sterling lost his bantamweight title to O’Malley by knockout at UFC 292, so he was able to give Dvalishvili some insight on how to fight him. Sterling is also convinced that O’Malley was told about fighting at Sphere before Dvalishvili, which he says did not make it a level playing field.
“Merab finally got his fair shake. He got a fair fight, although O’Malley probably knew about the Sphere fight before Merab did and had more time to prepare,” Sterling said. “When they announced it for Merab from what I remember, they called him, it was exactly eight weeks.
“Now come on, once again we’re trying to put this ball in the court where he (Merab) has to now scramble around like, ‘OK, I’m fighting here. I’ve got to get all these training partners, make sure everything is dialed in.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.