UFC 292 Media Day: “This Guy’s Going to Need Lightning to Strike”

UFC 292 media day is in the books and we’re working our way through fight week without a hitch thus far(knocking on wood so hard). As we get deeper into the week and the event is becoming more and more real, the fighters have to get through their media obligations before we get to the fight.

Today was the Sterling vs O’Malley media day. With the press asking about what this fight means, how they think they’ll get the job done and anything else that’ll give us some UFC 292 news, we got to hear some interesting stuff from Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. Here, you’ll find all you need to know regarding the main event fighters from this UFC media day event.

Sterling vs O’Malley Media Day: The Champ isn’t Too Impressed

Image Credit: IconSport

The current champion and arguably the greatest bantamweight of all time took to the mic and answered some questions. A big question is if he is impressed by O’Malley’s body of work. Sterling went into detail on that and, for the most part, he didn’t seem too impressed:

“I mean, his resume is okay. He did what he was supposed to do with the talent that was put in front of him, the same thing I have done over the years. The difference is the caliber of opponents and opposition that I’ve faced is night and day. I don’t think there’s anyone in the UFC, other than Petr Yan, that he’s beaten that’s still in the UFC, you can’t say the same for my resume… Other than that, he’s a tough competitor. I know he’s done his homework; he’s going to come prepared, he’s got a great team behind him, and I just look forward to smashing him and showing him that there’s levels to this.”

Sterling was then asked at the UFC media day event if he thinks his championship experience will prove to be an advantage in this fight:

“I think it’s a big advantage. I think the biggest advantage coming into this is the level of competition I’ve faced to date. Like I said, Sean’s got some serious skills; he’s got good feints, he’s long, he’s rangy, I think he’s going to be the first opponent that has a longer reach than me — I’m 71″, he’s 71″ — I’ve acknowledged all of these things. He’s got good front kicks, he does good spins – I hope he does spin so I can take his back. He does a lot of good things really, really well and it’s a dangerous test. But, at the end of the day, I think my competition is going to show, my fight IQ is going to show and we’ll see where he’s really at.”

It’s not breaking UFC 292 news that Sterling respects O’Malley, both fighters know what they have ahead of them and respect the other. The confidence is there for the champ.

UFC 292 Media Day: “This Feels Very Similar”

Dec 11, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Sean O’Malley reacts against Raulian Paiva during UFC 269 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA – Photo by Icon sport

To open up his time at the UFC 292 media day, O’Malley let it be known that the pressure isn’t getting to him. Most of his previous fights have been huge deals and he’s already had a lot of eyes on him for some time now. There’s a belt on the line here, but his reputation has been on the line for so many previous fights.

‘Suga’ was asked he he feels about seeing himself on billboards around town, especially when considering he’s envisioned this for so long.

“I feel like it’s meant to be right now. This is my time. I’ve seen this kind of playing out over my career; I’ve said before I even fought Alfred [Khashakyan] on the Contender Series that I’m going to be that dude, I’m going to be fighting main events, world titles, pay-per-views and now it’s here. It’s not, like, a big surprise to me. I knew I’d put in the work, beat the guys that I needed to beat and I’d be here.”

A lot of people, Sterling primarily, thought that O’Malley turned down an earlier title fight, let Henry Cejudo fight for the belt, because Sean thought he’d need more time to get ready. He was asked about this at the UFC media day.

“Yeah, they said ‘Hey, Henry’s going to fight Aljo’, I said ‘Alright, cool’. I wasn’t hurting for money like some of these guys that have to turn around and fight real quick. I’m balling, so I was like ‘Alright, sweet’, I’ll take this time, improve, enjoy life and I’ll fight when the time’s right. August 19th in Boston sounds like a good time.”

Be sure to check back in with us for the press conference tomorrow, the weigh ins on Friday and for live coverage on fight night.