Aljamain Sterling Credits Sean O’Malley for Capitalizing on His Mistake at UFC 292

Aljamain Sterling is willing to give credit where credit is due following his second-round technical knockout loss to Sean O'Malley in the UFC 292 headliner.

“He was better than what I thought in his footwork,” Sterling said of O’Malley at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “That was one of the things I tried to get guys to emulate, because I knew that is a hard thing to do. I do it myself when I go side to side, but it’s different when someone else is doing it to you, and I can’t track this motherf—-er down. I tracked him down a couple of times, but then he would spin out at the last second. I think I threw a side kick, and he was able to pivot out beautifully. He did a couple things really, really well.

“I would have liked to get him down to the ground to really see how good he is down there, but the one thing I knew, we were doing a good job throwing that overhand right into the takedown. He threw the front kick, and I was like, ‘All right, I think I got his timing.’ I threw the left hand, and as I was coming down, he stepped back and threw a beautiful counter right and it was clean.”

With that, Sterling’s reign as bantamweight champion came to an end. While the stoppage was viewed by some as premature, “Funk Master” ultimately couldn’t fault referee Marc Goddard for his decision.

“I felt like the fight could’ve still kept going, to be honest,” Sterling said. “I rolled over to try to come back up, and as soon as he stepped in, I was fine. It was just one of those things. I can’t be mad at the ref. It is what it is.”

Sterling entered UFC 292 as a favorite thanks to his grappling ability, but he admits that attempting to force the issue might have led to his demise.

“He stayed disciplined to his game plan, and I kind of let trying to be a little bit more of an exciting style for the fans play a factor … We’ve seen bad fights before, where it’s like not much happens, because no one wants to make that grave mistake. I made the mistake, Sean capitalized. I paid for it.”

Meanwhile, the crowd at TD Garden was clearly behind O’Malley, who has also received a big push from the promotion. Sterling claims that the crowd’s negative reaction toward him didn’t affect him.

The short answer, no, the boos don’t bother me,” he said. “I’m glad the crowd actually has a reaction.”

Prior to UFC 292, Sterling indicated that Saturday would likely be his last fight at 135 pounds. The loss has him reconsidering that decision.

“I would like to think that I’ve earned my right to get an immediate rematch,” he said. “I’m going to remember this night for a very long time. It’s going to fuel me for just bigger and greater things.”