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Sean O’Malley got the job done on Saturday night at UFC 292. The 28-year-old Arizona-based fighter scored a TKO win over “Funkmaster” Aljamain Sterling in the opening minute of round two to become the new undisputed bantamweight champion.
And according to Dana White, it was “the Sugar Show” that helped catapult UFC 292 to a record-breaking success for both the company and the city of Boston.
White credits Sean O’Malley for UFC 292’s record-breakers
During the post-fight scrum, Dana White revealed UFC 292’s record-breaking numbers.
“We broke the all-time gate record here. Bruce Springsteen just played here and did $5 million. We did over $7 million,” he told the media.
“The Boston Garden. The craziest f—ng sports town on Earth. Other than their team that plays here, we’re the biggest thing that’s ever been here. So what does that tell you about O’Malley?”
According to White, the headliner between Sean O’Malley and Aljamain Sterling also turned out to be the biggest fight at 135 pounds, worldwide.
“This is also the biggest bantamweight championship fight ever on pay-per-view, globally. It broke the record. Biggest bantamweight championship fight ever. I’m sure you saw the crowd at the end.
“O’Malley isn’t gonna be a star. He is a star.”
Styles make fights
During the Octagon interview with Joe Rogan, Sean O’Malley admitted to feeling a bit of nerves coming into the Sterling bout, the biggest fight of his career at that point.
“Honestly, this was the most nervous I’ve ever been for a fight. In my eyes, Aljamain Sterling is the best bantamweight of all time. So yeah, I was a little bit nervous for this fight, but I never lost the confidence because I know what I possess in this f—ng right hand.”
White was likewise slightly doubtful about how O’Malley would do against Sterling.
“When you think about the fight, and you think about Sterling, you say to yourself, ‘How does Sean beat this guy? How does Sean stop the takedowns?’ He’s not gonna be able to stop the takedowns.
“Maybe he’ll do it a couple of times, but all night? Cejudo couldn’t.
“But you never know, man. Styles make fights. And things happen in fights that you sometimes don’t expect. (Sterling) got caught, and he got stopped.”
What Sean O’Malley wants next
Sean O’Malley may have just gotten at the top of the bantamweight ladder, but as far as he’s concerned, he’s just getting started.
“This is just the beginning of the Sugar era. I’m running this shit until 2035,” he told Rogan.
He does, in fact, already have an opponent in mind for his first title defense, one that he’s been thinking about for a while now.
“Did Chito win? Was it boring? Probably. I’ll whoop Chito’s ass in December in Vegas at T-Mobile.”
Sean O’Malley fought Marlon Vera at UFC 252, one of the organization’s pandemic bouts in 2020. The latter won via first-round TKO, but “Sugar Sean” will likely tell you otherwise.
“Chito” opened up the night’s main card against fellow banger Pedro Munhoz. He won via unanimous decision to improve to a win-loss slate of 21-8-1.
As for the newly-crowned champion, he improved to a record of 17-1 (with 1 NC) after the win over Sterling. He also took home a $50K bonus for Performance of the Night, his eighth post-fight bonus since entering the company via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017.
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