Sean O’Malley is the new UFC bantamweight champion, and he used the classic step back counter Conor McGregor used on Jose Aldo to do it.
McGregor starched Aldo with almost exactly the same move in their lightning fast 13 second fight back in 2015. Aldo, infuriated after a two year build-up to their fight, charged in on McGregor at the start of their fight. McGregor hit him with a pinpoint accurate left hand that dropped “Scarface” to the canvas, ending their match before it even really got started.
O’Malley vs. Aljamain Sterling lasted a bit longer. Their first round saw both men carefully feeling each other out, with “Suga” keeping distance and frustrating “Funkmaster” the few times they actually clinched. In the second round, an impatient Aljo lunged in on O’Malley, only for O’Malley to step back and land a big right hand that dropped him. The referee would step in after Sean dropped an endless amount of ground and pound on the now-former champion (watch the full fight and finish here).
In new backstage footage from the UFC 292 locker rooms, you can watch Sean O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch drilling the move. The footage was released by O’Malley’s sponsor Sanabul.
During the UFC 292 post-fight show, O’Malley credited McGregor with giving him inspiration for the winning sequence.
“That was literally Jose Aldo – Conor,” O’Malley said. “The way he stepped back southpaw, threw that left hand, I was picturing that all night, all week.”
During the post-fight press conference, Sterling admitted he got a bit too impatient after the first round.
“He stayed disciplined to his game plan, and I kind of let trying to be a little bit more of an exciting style for the fans play a factor,” he said. “We’ve seen the Izzy vs. Yoel Romero fight. We’ve seen bad fights before, where it’s like not much happens, because no one wants to make that grave mistake. I made the mistake, Sean capitalized. I paid for it.”
At this level, all it takes is one small mistake. O’Malley was waiting for Sterling to lunge in, and Aljo paid for it with his belt.
Who do you think “Suga” should fight in his first title defense, Maniacs? Let us know in the comments below!
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
