Aljamain Sterling is uncertain about his readiness for an August face-off against Sean O’Malley.
The duo are on course to face each other after Sterling’s defense of his bantamweight title. He beat Henry Cejudo in a split decision victory, after which O’Malley entered the Octagon to set up a fight.
While Dana White made it clear that August would be the month in mind, Sterling had doubts about the date. This was on the basis that the UFC star had picked up a few niggles in his win over Cejudo.
Nonetheless, he is optimistic about starting his training soon in the hope of facing O’Malley in August.
Aljamain Sterling asked if he will fight on the UFC PPV in August.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/ySvZEgkull
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 15, 2023
“If I could start training next week, I think it’s possible. If I could start. Just have to wait until next week. I gotta get an X-ray. I gotta get a couple X-rays still. I crushed my legs on Henry, smashing him.
“I didn’t care if I was going to kick his elbow. I didn’t care if I was going to kick his kneecap. I smashed my feet up pretty good so both my feet are pretty swollen. The left one is a lot worse, but it’s victory wounds so it’s all good,” Sterling
As for Cejudo, he has set his sights on taking on Sterling’s stablemate Merab Dvalishvili.
Following his loss there was talk that Cejudo could retire. But that appears to have been dismissed after he called out Dvalishvili for his next bout.
That will be a tall order since Merab is in good form having won his last nine bouts. And that is why Sterling does not see Cejudo getting past him.
“It’s not a bad idea. But, I do think he’s got a tall task ahead of him if he thinks he can just walk past Merab. He thought the same thing with me, I do think he underestimated me.
“And I think he might be building the very same thing against Merab. If he thinks my gas tank wasn’t gonna hold up, good luck with [Merab],” Sterling