Aljamain Sterling: UFC champ Sean O'Malley took 'Jake Paul route' to title, given favorable matchups

Aljamain Sterling compares UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley’s rise in popularity to Jake Paul’s.

Sterling lost his bantamweight title to O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) by knockout at UFC 292. The title loss came less than four months after Sterling defeated Henry Cejudo in a five-round battle at UFC 288.

Sterling is not sold on O’Malley’s resume. He thinks the UFC helped facilitate his route to the top.

“I want to see the best of the best compete, no excuses,” Sterling said on the “Verse Us with Eric Nicksick” podcast. “Now, enter O’Malley. He fights one ranked guy and gets a title shot – split decision albeit. And this is not me hating. This is just calling a spade a spade. He was supposed to fight me next, which would give me enough time to prepare. But instead, they say Cejudo is coming back, we want you to fight him. In the back of their mind, they’re like whoever wins this, we’re going to turn them around for August.

“So, he knows all this. I’m pretty sure he knows all this. Only O’Malley could disclose this, right? Or at least the UFC knew that’s what they wanted to do for sure. Give him the best opportunity that they could to become a world champion by hindering and stacking the deck against his opponent. For me, as a competitor, I can never respect that as a man – as a man, as a competitor. It’s like the Jake Paul route. Stacking the deck so that you get these highlights or you get these favorable matchups and these wins to look as good as you do.”

Sterling especially took issue with O’Malley’s first title defense, which came against Marlon Vera – the lone fighter to beat him. O’Malley battered Vera for five rounds to notch his first title defense at UFC 299 in March.

“O’Malley could be a great champion, but for him to go on and fight the No. 6 ranked guy in ‘Chito’ and then put on a clinic – OK, great,” Sterling said. “But again, stacking the deck and favorable matchups for you to look and appear as you’re ‘him.’

“He should have fought Merab (Dvalishvili) first before fighting ‘Chito.’ …You get an easier title defense against a guy you’re clearly world’s better than. Stylistically, the guy’s not going to try and take you down. He can’t take you down because he has no wrestling ability, and he’s ranked (No.) 6. He didn’t even deserve to be in there.”

O’Malley will fight Sterling’s training partner Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) next. The pair headline UFC 306 Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.