There could be more to Sean O’Malley’s knockout win over Aljamain Sterling than previously thought.
At UFC 292, O’Malley challenged Sterling for the bantamweight title and delivered one of the best performances of his career, stopping Sterling with strikes early in the second round. In the aftermath, Sterling put the loss down to him trying to have an exciting fight instead of focusing on winning, but perhaps it was also due to some gamesmanship by O’Malley’s team.
On Wednesday, new footage from O’Malley’s knockout emerged showing his head coach Tim Welch calling to Sterling during the the fight, telling Sterling, “Aljo, you’ve got to go!” moments before the now-former champ charged in and got caught with the punch that set up the end of the fight.
This is a 10000 IQ play from Suga’s coach @TimwelchMT pic.twitter.com/Nx93kmiCOV
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) May 8, 2024
Speaking to opposing fighters during a bout is not illegal, and if a coach is able to convince an opposing fighter to act foolishly, that would obviously be a great outcome for his fighter.