Aljamain Sterling: Lifestyle Changes Won’t Help Sean O’Malley Against Merab Dvalishvili

Aljamain Sterling doesn’t think a newfound sense of discipline will help Sean O'Malley (18-2) against Merab Dvalishvili (19-4).

O’Malley has always been known for his flashy lifestyle, which included smoking marijuana. However, things have seemingly changed for “Suga” since he lost his title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last year.

O’Malley will get chance to reclaim his title against Dvalishvili in the main event at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The former champ, rather uncharacteristically, recently thanked Dvalishvili for making him a better fighter and human being by beating him. O’Malley also claims to have introduced major lifestyle changes going into his rematch against “The Machine.” O’Malley claims he hasn’t masturbated or smoked marijuana this year.

However, Dvalishvili’s teammate Sterling doesn’t think any of that will matter. The former bantamweight champ believes it will all eventually come down to a difference of skill set. If anything, “Funkmaster” believes O’Malley could probably feel good about leaving no stone unturned in preparing for the rematch.

“I don’t think this is necessarily gonna make a big difference for O’Malley… I just don’t think that that’s gonna be the difference maker,” Sterling said on “The Weekly Scraps” podcast. “It’s the skill set. Can you deal with the pressure and the pace of a guy like Merab?... Not j-ing the peen, giving up marijuana — I don’t know is these things will make a big difference. Maybe he’ll feel better that he did everything possible under the sun to get this win. But does that actually matter?”

While O’Malley hasn’t fought since losing his title, Dvalishvili has defended the belt against a previously undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 earlier this year.