Mystic O’Malley? Aljamain Sterling Is Not Merab’s ‘Good Buddies’, Secretly Supporting ‘Suga’ Show at UFC 306

Aljamain Sterling took a beating from Sean O’Malley at UFC 292.

If “Suga” can repeat that feat at UFC 306 at The Sphere, where he defends his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili on September 14 in Las Vegas, it would ease some of the pain for “Funk Master” as he proves that O’Malley is as good as he claims.

“Aljo is probably hoping I beat Merab,” O’Malley told TMZ (transcript by MMA Junkie). “It makes Aljo look better. I just wonder if Merab was happy I knocked Aljo out, because if I hadn’t, Merab would have been waiting anyway. So I have a little theory that maybe they’re not as good buddies as we all thought.”

Trying to stay loyal to friends in your same weight class is a BAD IDEA.

“I mean, I don’t know what Aljo’s going to say to Merab,” O’Malley continued. “Like, ‘Fuck, he’s fast, he’s smart, he’s accurate, he’s tough to beat, good luck.’ Aljo hasn’t had a lot of success in that fight. If anything, Aljo probably shouldn’t have said anything to him because it just made him a little nervous.”

Sterling moved up to featherweight with a unanimous decision victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 last May. His next assignment will test his championship mettle when he faces No. 6-ranked Movsar Evloev as part of next month’s UFC 307 lineup in Salt Lake City (read more about that card here).

LIVE! Watch UFC 306 PPV from The Sphere on ESPN+ here!

UFC NIGHT AT THE SPHERE! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will host a one-of-a-kind pay-per-view (PPV) event on Saturday, September 14, 2024, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day during its mid-season in Riyadh. It will feature an extraordinary combination of fights culminating in a main event bantamweight fight between reigning champion, Sean O’Malleyand diced candidate no. 1 Merab Dvalishvili. As a co-headliner at UFC 306, the current flyweight titleholder, Alexa Grassowill settle her score with Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 32 co-star Valentina Shevchenko in the final fight of their epic 125-pound trilogy. The UFC 306 PPV main card (watch it here) will also feature Brian Ortega against Diego Lopes, Raul Rosas Jr. against Aoriqilengand more! This is must-see action from “Sin City!” UFC 306 The start time is scheduled for 6:30 PM EST (Introductory card) and 10:00 PM EST (PPV main card).

Don’t miss a second of this EPIC face-slapping!

MMAmania will be reporting live every round, every detail of the entire event UFC 306 fight card on the right HEREstarting from early ESPN+ Prelims matches at 7:30 PM ET, followed by the rest of the pre-event action on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8:00 PM ET, before the UFC 306 PPV main card begins at 10:00 PM ET ESPN+ Paid packages.

For the latest and greatest UFC 306: “O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili” news and notes, be sure to check out our comprehensive event archive here . To see the updated and finalized UFC 306 fight card and PPV lineup, click here .