Aljamain Sterling questions Sean O’Malley’s ‘real’ star power as UFC 299 edges UFC 300 in big names

Aljamain Sterling finds the overstacked UFC 299 card a curious coincidence, another Dana White privilege favor.

Aljamain Sterling questions Sean O’Malley’s ‘real’ star power as UFC 299 edges UFC 300 in big names

Before facing Calvin Kattar, Aljamain Sterling casts a shade on his old rival (Source: IMAGO/Twitter)

Aljamain Sterling is all set to make his featherweight debut at UFC 300. His excitement upon debuting on the historic card had got fans hopeful for the road back to a title shot. As Sterling locks on to Calvin Kattar this April, that might soon be possible. The duo fight on the April 13 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ahead of this though, Sterling has taken one last jab at Sean O’Malley.

Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC), is one of the most prominent titleholders in the history of UFC’s 135lbs class. However, he recently divulged that his featherweight move is permanent, with no more chances at 135. While he is not currently gunning for a bantamweight title contention rematch anymore, he is yet free to take a shot at ‘Suga’. Here’s what he wrote recently, on X – 

UFC 300 has a lot of star power, but it’s tough to ignore which is the bigger card. I’m saying this as a big UFC fight fan...
Aljamain Sterling on X
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Sterling’s reply-tweet comes in light of fan account @Svenan3 prompting that UFC 299 has a far better set-up than UFC 300; to this ‘The Funk Master’ agrees. The fighter joins the likes of UFC star Renato Moicano who has openly bashed the official slated athlete listing. Compared to UFC 300, UFC 299 boasts much bigger names. This includes new signing Michael Venom Page, Dustin Poirier (who isn’t on the card at the moment, as per a new tweet), Gilbert Burns, Peter Yan, and so on.

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Meanwhile, UFC 300’s latest full card update has left fans bewildered about its all-women affair and a lack of a headliner. Conversely, Sterling attributes the gravitating factor towards UFC 299 as a direct result of Sean O’Malley’s lack of draw power.

Aljamain Sterling feels UFC 299 to be ‘over-stacked’ due to Sean O’Malley

Aljamain Sterling lost his bantamweight gold to Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) at UFC 292, last August. Sterling had issued vital ultimatums to O’Malley on choosing #6 135lber Marlon Vera for his maiden defense. With no title rematch in sight, Sterling has now moved on to make his mark in featherweight.

Even before his title loss, the former champ has aspired to shift up and duke it out with reigning 145lbs champion Alexander Volkanovski. Now the fighter has finally moved on from past baggage.

Aljamain Sterling, who competes at UFC 300 next, isn't a big believer of Sean O'Malley's draw power
Aljamain Sterling, who competes at UFC 300 next, isn’t a big believer of Sean O’Malley’s draw power (Source: Twitter/bloodyelbow.com)

But, Sterling isn’t yet set on Sean O’Malley’s draw power; a point he has touched on before as well, demonstrating details about UFC 292’s middling PPV paycheck.

Speaking to The MMA Hour‘s Ariel Helwani, here’s what he had to say:

It’s just kind of funny that the UFC felt the need to stack this card so much to make it feel like Sean is the draw...It’s actually comical, because I know people were kind of trying to s*** on the [UFC] 300 [card]. I’m like, well, a lot of those fights that people probably would’ve wanted [for UFC 300] were on 299, for whatever reason. It doesn’t take much to kind of draw conclusions...
Aljamain Sterling said
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UFC 299 will take place on March 9 in Miami and will be the first non-Sterling UFC bantamweight Title fight since 2021.

Sterling, 34, is gearing up to make his featherweight debut against Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. So he’s not too keen about the inner workings of the division anymore. However, that does not mean he is fully acclimating to ‘Suga’ just yet.

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