Aljamain Sterling revealed that he is now exploring featherweight. The fighter shared that in case he succeeds, there is a possibility of him fighting Sean O’Malley again in the said division.
The two fighters faced each other in a bantamweight bout in August, with Sterling defending the title against O’Malley. The latter, however, snatched the belt from Sterling, making him the new bantamweight champ. O’Malley is now set to face Marlon Vera at UFC 299, while Aljamain still has no fight booked.
While resting, the former bantamweight champ revealed that he’s trying to hit the weight required at the featherweight division. The news is not entirely new, with the fighter vocal about the plan to move to the said division while he still had the bantamweight title. Yet, it seems the plan is finally materializing, with Sterling sharing he could face O’Malley again in case he makes the weight.
“I just have a tough time making the weight although I do make it,” Sterling shared on his YouTube channel. “It’s just never easy, and I never felt like I was big enough for 145, but we’ll see. I did some testing and all things point to I should be making a switch over and if I do or have the success that I’ve had at 135, there’s always the potential collision course between O’Malley and myself again at 145. I’d be very, very ecstatic to have that matchup again. Especially where I’m not rushed and I’m monitoring my training because I’m training around injuries that literally just happened from a fight I just had with one of the greatest of all time.”
The bout is not far from possible as O’Malley also shared an interest in fighting at featherweight someday. In August, the fighter suggested the idea that he might move to featherweight if Ilia Topuria could take down Alexander Volkanovski. Now that the bout between the two is expected in January, O’Malley might get the push he needs. And in case O’Malley indeed shifts to featherweight, Sterling might meet his conqueror again for a rematch.
