Aljamain Sterling confirms plans to return to bantamweight for Sean O’Malley rematch: “Rematch 2024”

Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will be back for Sean O’Malley.

‘The Funk Master’ returned to the cage opposite ‘Sugar’ over the weekend in the main event of UFC 292. Heading into the contest, Aljamain Sterling was riding a wave of momentum. Last defeating Henry Cejudo in May, he set the record for most title defenses in bantamweight history. Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley entered the bout off a controversial decision win over Petr Yan last October.

While Aljamain Sterling was confident that he could stop the rise of the young bantamweight, that all changed in round two. In the opening seconds of the frame, Sean O’Malley landed a highlight-reel right hand to drop the champion. A few follow-up shots later, ‘Sugar’ had shaken up the world with a stoppage win.

Following the defeat, Aljamain Sterling was non-committal on a potential rematch with Sean O’Malley. Leading into UFC 292, the bantamweight champion was vocal about his desire to face Alexander Volkanovski up at featherweight. However, with a loss, his champ-champ dreams went up in smoke.

Furthermore, ‘The Great’ recently indicated that he might potentially face Ilia Topuria next. With that, Aljamain Sterling now seems dead-set on a rematch with Sean O’Malley. The former champion announced his bantamweight news in a post on X.

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Rematch 2024. Game of inches. I’ll be back.

— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) August 22, 2023

“Rematch 2024. Game of inches. I’ll be back,” Sterling wrote on X earlier today announcing his plans to stay at 135 pounds.

In the post, Aljamain Sterling also stated that a potential rematch would take place in 2024. That might be something that O’Malley has something to say about. Since his title win on Saturday, he’s repeatedly hinted at a potential return in December, ‘Funk Master’ or not.

What do you make of this news? Do you want to see Sean O’Malley vs. Aljamain Sterling 2?