Sean O’Malley now has his eye on a new fight in the wake of the news that current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling may be out of his expected title fight against Henry Cejudo due to a bicep injury.
“It would be perfect: Me vs. Henry [Cejudo] for the interim belt [at UFC 285],” O’Malley said on his BrOMalley Show. “Tell me that ain’t fire.”
However, according to the 28-year-old the UFC is still assessing their options as they wait to see what’s going to happen with Sterling’s injury situation.
“I texted [UFC Chief Business Officer] Hunter [Campbell], I texted [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby. I said, ‘Will you at least give me an idea? Will you at least say yes or no? Is Henry vs. Aljo happening?’ They just don’t know.
“They’re kind of just trying to wait and see if [Sterling] can or what. I’m frustrated, but I’m okay because I’m just training.”
Meanwhile, Sterling also appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach regarding his injury, but has suggested that if he’s not able to fight Cejudo then he’s not against him fighting O’Malley instead.
“If Henry wants to wait for me, he can wait. Or if he wants to take the easier fight, what he thinks to be the easiest fight, and fight Sean if he wants to go beat up Sean, go beat up Sean,” Sterling said on The MMA Hour show. “If Henry wants to wait for me, we can fight. But if he wants to say, ‘I don’t want to wait any longer, give me a fight right now,’ maybe they do an interim. I’m not mad at an interim. At the end of the day, an interim means both guys get paid, right? Because they’re going to now have a belt and they’re entitled to pay-per-view points. I’m in favor for anyone on pay-per-view on the main card to get pay-per-view points, even if it’s 25 cents, or 50 cents per buy. I think there’s a reason why you’re on the pay-per-view card, so it’s like, why not? That’s just how I look at it.”
