LAS VEGAS – By his own admission, 2023 has been a “long, crazy year” for Aljamain Sterling. A big reason for that is how his UFC bantamweight championship reign played out and ultimately ended.
Sterling first defended his title May 6 at UFC 288 by winning a split decision against Henry Cejudo. Afterward, he expressed his desire to take just a little time off – one month to decompress – before jumping back into training camp for a fight with Sean O’Malley. The UFC, however, was intent on booking them to headline UFC 292 roughly three months later on Aug. 19.
That put a lot of pressure on Sterling and even though the date was sooner than he would’ve liked, he accepted. And then he lost his title to O’Malley by second-round TKO in Boston.
“It is what it is,” Sterling told MMA Junkie recently on the World MMA Awards red carpet. “I got rushed back a little bit. But I took the fight, no excuses. The better man won that night.”
Given how the overall situation played out, Sterling called for a rematch and expected he would get it. After all, his three consecutive title defenses prior to the loss set a new bantamweight record. If not an immediate rematch for himself, Sterling hoped the next title shot would go to his…
