Aljamain Sterling vs Sean O’Malley and Weili Zhang vs Amanda Lemos title bouts set for UFC 292
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has begun adding matchups to the UFC 292 lineup, which so far includes two epic championship affairs.
UFC 292 is to go down live from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 19, 2023.
The first of those epic championship bouts comes at 135 lbs, as Aljamain Sterling (23-3) aims to make the fourth defense of his UFC bantamweight championship opposing no. 1 ranked Sean O’Malley (16-1).
Though Aljamain Sterling won the title in very controversial fashion, he’s had a good run as champion so far, defending his title against the likes of three former champions in Petr Yan (SD), TJ Dillashaw (TKO), and Henry Cejudo (SD).
Sean O’Malley on the other hand, since losing to Marlon Vera in a fight he got injured in, has gone unbeaten through his last four fights, defeating the likes of Thomas Almeida (KO), Kris Moutinho (TKO), Raulian Paiva (TKO), and Petr Yan (SD). He also fought to a no contest with Pedro Munhoz in the midst there.
O’Malley’s only loss was quite controversial, whereas two of Sterling’s losses were also controversial, as he once fell from 12-0 to 12-2, losing back-to-back razor thin split decisions to Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao in 2016 and 2017.
The overwhelming and incredibly well-versed grappling of Sterling against the accurate, precise, and devastating striking of O’Malley is what makes this fight so highly anticipated!
Then we have a battle of strawweight finishers, where Chinese legend and UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang (23-3) aims to make the first defense of her second title reign against Brazilian knockout artist Amanda Lemos (13-2-1).
Zhang first won the UFC title back in August of 2019, where she stopped then champion Jessica Andrade (TKO) in a mere 42 seconds to capture the throne, before defending it against longtime champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (SD) in her first title defense.
She then lost the title to Rose Namajunas (KO), and also lost the immediate rematch (SD). Since then however, Zhang defeated Jedrzejczyk again (KO), and reclaimed the title against two-time champion Carla Esparza (rear naked choke) back in November of last year.
Lemos is a former Jungle Fight bantamweight champion, and since losing her UFC debut she’s gone 7-1 over her last eight bouts.
In this time Lemos only lost to former champion Jessica Andrade, while she secured finishes in five of those seven wins, including her current two-fight win streak that showed her victorious over Michelle Waterson (guillotine choke) and Marina Rodriguez (TKO).
Many of us were thinking we’d get a China versus China title fight with no. 3 ranked Yan Xiaonan having just KO’d Andrade in the opening round earlier this month herself, but it looks like we may have to wait just a tad longer for that one.
Who do you see coming out on top in this epic championship encounters going down at UFC 292?
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