Sean O’Malley Rubs Salt in Aljamain Sterling’s Wounds After Brian Ortega Beatdown

Aljamain Sterling dominated Brian Ortega at UFC Shanghai on August 23, winning the co-main event by unanimous decision. It was a hard-fought five-round match that also injured Sterling’s elbow.

The victory marked his second win in the featherweight division after losing his bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley in August 2023. But O’Malley wasn’t about to let his old rival enjoy the moment without bringing up their UFC 292 encounter. 

The 30-year-old decided to rain on Sterling’s successful parade by reminding him of the beginning of the ‘Suga Era’ at bantamweight. However, it was one of the darkest moments for Sterling, as he lost to Suga decisively.

Aljamain Sterling Gets Painful Reminder from Sean O’Malley

Sterling didn’t get long to enjoy his win at UFC Shanghai. One day later, Sean O’Malley reminded him of their history, posting a four-word jab on X: “What can I say… 🤣”

What can I say.. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/tFesIILKrP

— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) August 23, 2025

The timing made it sting worse because Sterling’s fight with Ortega was his best performance since their encounter. Throughout the match, Sterling looked sharp, showing improved striking and grappling despite the arm injury that slowed him a bit in the final round.

Suga, however, hasn’t been having an easy time. He is going through a rough patch in the Octagon after losing his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306. Luckily, he was granted an immediate rematch at UFC 316 despite not winning in between. 

But he lost again, marking his second consecutive defeat and the first loss of his UFC career. In this hard time, when he saw his old rival moving on from past setbacks, he rubbed salt in Sterling’s wound, which hasn’t healed yet.

The performance was strong enough to put Sterling in title contention at 145 pounds. If the UFC wants, he could compete with elite featherweights, despite concerns about the weight cut. But O’Malley reminded everyone that Sterling’s bantamweight reign ended with him getting knocked out cold at UFC 292. 

Sterling hasn’t responded to O’Malley yet. He is currently focusing on recovering from biceps paralysis. We have got a half-scary update about the injury from his Instagram handle.

Meanwhile, O’Malley’s future is hanging, as he had once considered retirement. But it now seems he has an easier future plan in mind.

Sean O’Malley Reveals His Easy Future Plan

While trolling Sterling, O’Malley has been planning his own comeback after losing his bantamweight title twice to Dvalishvili. After suffering his first back-to-back losses, he had even considered retirement.

On a recent episode of his podcast, he said, “Ideally I’d fight one more time this year, but it’s possible I don’t fight again this year. It’s actually possible that I never fight again, you just never know.”

However, it seems he is aiming for one last attempt to reclaim his name and has no intention of moving to featherweight. In an interview with TMZ Sports, the 30-year-old said, “Nah, I’m good, bantamweight. I’m still here.”

He added, “There are still big fights for me to have at bantamweight. 145 lbs will happen in the future, yeah, probably most likely, but we’ve still got work to do down here at 135 lbs.”

At this point, it seems extremely unlikely that he will retire. Some experts, however, believe his fighting style would also fit well in the featherweight division. The division is currently dominated by strikers who may be analytically vulnerable to O’Malley.