O’Malley slams Sterling over UFC 292 hesitation: ‘You have four months ... it’s called discipline’

Aljamain Sterling narrowly defeated Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 just a few weeks ago to retain his Bantamweight belt, and he’s already been booked to fight Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 19, 2023.

That’s little more than three months between fights, which is a pretty tight timeline for any fighter to accept, let alone a reigning (and defending) champion. But, that’s what UFC is doing. Sterling requested a September date and noted several injuries from his three fights over the past 13 months.

But, UFC President, Dana White, has confirmed “Funkmaster” vs. “Suga” is happening in August ... and that’s that.

O’Malley showed a little bit of sympathy for “Funkmaster” after hearing the laundry list of injuries the champ has been dealing with. But, in the end, he thinks there’s more than enough time for Sterling to be ready for a “Beantown” beatdown.

“I mean, you did just fight,” O’Malley admitted during a new episode of his TimboSugaShow podcast. “But, look at Izzy: that motherf—ker fought four times in 12 months. You have four months. It’s four months from a fight, take two months off, heal up, and then train hard for two months. It ain’t f—ing science ... or is it? Math plus two. It’s called discipline.”

In the end, “Suga” said it isn’t about what he or Sterling wants, but what UFC wants. When Sterling tried to turn the tables on O’Malley by suggesting via Twitter that the two fight at UFC 290 in July, O’Malley just shook his head in confusion.

“He acts likes he calls the shots!” O’Malley said. “I’m listening to the UFC, I’m not acting like I call the shot. Dana said August, so I said August. It’s not like I told Dana ‘Hey, f—king run it in August, I’m the man, I run this s—t’. I said ‘Hey, Uncle Dana,’ I didn’t call him ‘Daddy Dana’ like he says. I said, ‘Uncle Dana, when you want me to beat up Aljo,’ and it happened to be August.”

“I don’t know what his point is here,” O’Malley concluded. “What’s his plan by even tweeting that?”

There’s a lot of pressure on Sterling to sign the contract and accept the O’Malley fight in 3.5 months’ time. And if Sterling does decide he’s too banged up physically to fight? UFC has Cejudo as a replacement opponent ready for O’Malley — undoubtedly for an interim belt, since the high-profile Boston ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) card needs to be topped with a championship fight.

For more details on the upcoming UFC 292 PPV event click here.