‘Suga’ Sean O Malley managed to defeat Aljamain ‘Funkmaster’ Sterling to capture the UFC Bantamweight champion. The fight was a highly anticipated one with O’Malley coming through the ranks as a young talent.
Sean managed to secure the victory against Sterling in a sensational knockout which occurred in the second round. Aljamain looked to pressure Sean as soon as the first round began with his leg-kicks, but O’Malley managed to evade any threats with relative ease and looked extremely focused through the initial bits of the first round.
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Sean did a good job of keeping his back to the centre of the ring so Sterling was unable to corner him to the cage and utilize his world-class grappling skills. He also used his feints in order to keep Sterling engaged as he looked for the killer blow which was not available in the first round. The first takedown attempt by Sterling was only in the final 20 seconds of the first round which Sean managed to keep his cool and wait for the round to finish which became a massive play.
In the second round things got a lot more heated as Sean attempted to land a kick but slipped and was caught by Sterling. Luckily Sean managed to hold his own and find a way to free himself in order to focus on his strengths which is striking.
That is when Sean managed to land the killer blow as Sterling came inside Sean’s range and hit him with a right which grounded Sterling despite trying to keep distance from the ground using his kicks. O’Malley was able to find the knockout and secure a championship victory.
O ‘Malley came to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series where he secured a knockout victory against Alfred Khashakyan. Despite securing a contract in the UFC the fighter faced various setbacks from injuries to failed doping tests.
He also lost to Marlon Vera via TKO in the first round as well. But he had managed to rack up wins over former champion Petr Yan, Thomas Almeida, Kris Moutinho and others to build himself up the ranks.
His notable hairdo which consists of a rainbow-coloured afro also was a huge attraction amongst the fans. He also produces content on his YouTube channel, particularly a podcast.