Aljamain Sterling, Sean O’Malley’s Next Best Fights After UFC 292 Results

UFC 292 created a seismic shift in the bantamweight division with Sean O’Malley defeating Aljamain Sterling to take the 135-pound title in the main event from the TD Garden in Boston.

The ripple effect of the event will be felt for the foreseeable future. For one, it creates an interesting question as to what Sterling is going to do moving forward. Before the fight he indicated that he was making the cut down to bantamweight for what was likely the last time.

Then there’s the fact that O’Malley is a star with a big personality and the potential to sell some big fights in the weight class. With Sterling potentially out of the title picture, there are plenty of intriguing fights to make for the new champ.

For Sterling, the scenario of wading into the waters at featherweight presents some fun matchups as well.

Let’s take a look at the next best fights for each of the main event combatants.

Sean O’Malley might be more interested in a rematch with Marlon “Chito” Vera, but that’s just great career management on O’Malley’s part.

There’s some narrative juice to a Vera rematch. He did give him his first loss and he’s coming off a win over Pedro Munhoz on the UFC 292 card, but it’s also convenient for O’Malley that Vera is an easier matchup at this point.

Vera had O’Malley’s number in the first fight, but the fact that he’s willing to stand and strike with the now-champion makes him a favorable matchup.

Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is becoming harder and harder to deny as the next challenger for the title. He’s on a nine-fight wins streak and just beat Petr Yan in March. After watching O’Malley navigate Sterling’s grappling it would be fun to see what he can do with Dvalishvili’s relentless attack.

Of course, there’s the whole matter of a stolen red jacket to settle too.

Sterling’s loss throws a little more mystery into what’s next for him. Had he won, it would be easier seeing him going to 145 pounds because he would likely get an immediate shot at Alexander Volkanovski.

Now, he’s going to have to fight larger fighters and work his way back into the title mix.

Ideally, he would be getting a fighter who is also coming off a loss and has some things of his own to work out. Brian Ortega fits that bill perfectly. We haven’t seen him since July 2022 when he lost to Yair Rodriguez due to a shoulder injury.

Assuming he’ll be ready to get back in the cage by the end of the year and timelines match up it would be a great matchup to see Ortega welcome Sterling to the featherweight division.

Both men have slightly unorthodox style with slick submission games. The T-City nickname comes from Ortega’s early penchant for triangle chokes so watching Sterling and Ortega get into a submission grappling match would be high level wrestling that would showcase what Sterling could do at the bigger weight.