Aljamain Sterling anser inte att Sean O’Malley riktigt är den stora stjärnan han påstår sig vara.
Aljamain Sterling besviken på PPV-siffrorna mot Sean O’Malley
I augusti mötte Aljaimain Sterling Sean O’Malley i huvudmatchen vid UFC 292. O’Malley vann då matchen via knockout i andra ronden och erövrade därmed UFC-bältet i bantamvikt. Många trodde då att MMA:s nästa storstjärna tänts. Sterling är dock lite skeptisk till detta.
Den dåvarande bantamviktsmästaren skulle få en procent av PPV-försäljningarna från den matchen som hajpades upp som den största i bantamviktsklassen. Sterling erkänner nu att han är besviken gällande PPV-siffrorna. Sterling sade följande via sin YouTube-kanal:
I was just watching something with my lady and I got the Pay-Per-View numbers, and me and her were going through it, and I’m just like, ‘These are the numbers that this guy was trying to say he’s this big PPV star? Oh my god. When I saw the numbers I literally sat there — if I had any idea that this is what the numbers would have been, if I could have predicted that this is what it would have been, my ass would have waited and taken my vacation then and geared up to fight now. Because this is ultimately when they said I would be able to fight, January, February, March, because if I didn’t fight in August they wouldn’t have had any other ‘spots.’
It is what it is. I rolled the dice. I trusted that the bag was going to be this, wow, blow me away, bigger than all the other ones. It wasn’t. So with that being said, it is what it is. I’m still happy I made some extra money. I had a really good year. Life’s good.
De inte så storslagna PPV-siffrorna är särskilt nedslående för Sterling då han inte tog matchen under de bästa förutsättningarna. Sterling hade ett lyckat försvar av bantamviktstiteln mot Henry Cejudo i maj och blev sedan övertalad att tre månader senare möta O’Malley. Sterling är tydlig med att han valde att fightas så att han skulle kunna leva med resultatet men han tror att brådskan kan ha kostat honom bältet:
I know the circumstances. The guys who follow the sport and knew my situation, how I was coerced into that fight — ultimately, it was my decision. It was never like, ‘If you don’t do this, you’re cut. If you don’t do this, we strip you of your belt.’ It was, ‘This is the situation. You either take it or you don’t.’ I decided to roll the dice and things didn’t go my way. If I had more time to heal, I think the outcome maybe would have been a little bit different. That’s just my two cents, but who knows?
Med det sagt så är Sterling tydlig med att han inte lägger skulden på O’Malley för detta som bara tog tillfället i akt och att det är han själv som klantade sig:
There’s a lot to be said about fight, when you make those decisions in the heat of the moment. I made a bad decision. He had good instincts, and when I made the decision and put it there for him, my man capitalized. I can’t take anything away from him for that. If I were to do that 100 times, and have the best training camp of my life, he still catches me like that if I go and make the same exact mistake, because he’s trained. So respect where it’s due, from my vantage point. But I do know that I just don’t make mistakes like that and I think it was more frustration from like, ‘I just want to be done fighting.’ It is what it is.
Hoppas fightas om fjädersviktstiteln snart
Matchen mot O’Malley blev den sista i Sterlings karriär inom bantamvikt, i vilket fall just nu. Den forne mästaren på 135 lbs kommer nu göra sin fjäderviktsdebut mot Calvin Kattar vid UFC 300 i april och även om Kattar inte är en rankad topp-5 så hoppas Sterling nu med en stark insats få fightas om bältet snart därefter:
They would have given me a bigger fight if there was an opportunity. One of the early names was Arnold Allen, but I did ask for the O’Malley rematch and maybe that’s why I didn’t get the Arnold Allen fight. I do think they would have given it to me, it’s just that the cards didn’t align, and for whatever reason, Arnold is fighting Movsar Evloev and this is the fight that works out for me.
Still a fun fight, still a guy that puts me in a great spot. If I win and I can look good doing it, and Alex Volkanovski wins, and depending on who wins between Arnold Allen and Movsar Evloev, depending how that fight goes, I could be a shoo-in for a title shot. It just depends on the performance.
UFC 300 äger rum den 13 april i T-Mobile Arena i Las Vegas.
