“The Exact Way It Landed…”: Sean O’Malley Lays Bare His Feelings After Being Compared to Conor McGregor Post His UFC 292 KO Win

When UFC President Dana White said that the next fight for the former UFC Bantamweight champion would be Sean O’Malley, Aljamain Sterling was adamant about not giving him a title shot. He felt that it was being handed to him. He also said that O’Malley had ‘easy fights’ in his career. However, at UFC 292, O’Malley proved his mettle.

Despite people joining the bandwagon, O’Malley kept his cool on fight night. Most people, even professional UFC fighters, were rooting for Sterling to win because O’Malley, the glorious striker that he is, lacked the composure required to win fights like these. However, by the end of the night, he TKO’d Sterling in an eyebrow-raising fashion.

Sean O’Malley compared with Conor McGregor?

After O’Malley knocked out Aljamain Sterling to become the new Bantamweight champion, UFC commentator Daniel Cormier noticed a resemblance between the way Sterling was knocked out and the way Jose Aldo‘s lights were turned off by Conor McGregor back in 2015. Naturally, the comparisons started coming in.

In a recent conference, O’Malley was asked what he thought of the comparisons. “Yeah, I mean, Conor’s a high-level striker. I’m a high-level striker. I was, even in the warm… like when I was in the Octagon and he was making his walk out – boom! I’m sure the people will find the replays of it.“, replied O’Malley, owning it. 

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He then proceeded to describe exactly how he laid the trap that caused the fall of Sterling. “I was stepping back, stepping back, throwing that right hand – the exact same way it landed. I say you make one mistake and I’m gonna find your chin and it could be over. It was.“, he said, issuing a warning to future title contenders in the process. 

Sean O’Malley’s UFC 292 knockout – History repeats itself?

Not only did O’Malley shut the mouths of all the naysayers and doubters, but he did so in a decisive and dominant fashion. In fact, White was quite impressed and had nothing but the most positive things to say about him. Within the second round of the headlining fight, O’Malley had knocked out Sterling, arguably one of the best Bantamweight fighters of all time.

Although people were shocked by the outcome, the real topic of discussion was the way he did it. In the second round, O’Malley laid a beautiful trap for Sterling that ultimately cost him the fight. He kept edging in and then pushing back, luring Sterling in. Sterling, who is usually calm and calculative, fell for it. He reached a bit too much to land a shot. O’Malley dodged it and countered with a hard right of his own, flooring the then-champion. He then proceeded to land some heavy shots which forced the referee to end the fight and hand the win to O’Malley by TKO.

Back in 2015, at UFC194, former UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in a similar fashion, in their Featherweight bout. Aldo was the champion back then and McGregor knocked out Aldo with a similar counter when the former champ reached out to land a shot.

Retired UFC fighter and present commentator Daniel Cormier was among the first few people to point out the ‘striking’ similarity between the two knockouts. What’s your take on this? Comment below.

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