Aljamain Sterling goes off on Sean O’Malley ahead of UFC 292: “That naked mole rat is getting smashed”

UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling has put Sean O’Malley on blast before their UFC 292 encounter.

Sterling will be putting the bantamweight gold on the line against O’Malley in the UFC 292 headliner. The two will collide this Saturday inside the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. It’ll be O’Malley’s first UFC title fight.

Ahead of the fight, both Sterling and O’Malley have traded barbs. Recently, Sterling revealed that the “Sugar” show was sliding into his DMs to try to one-up the “Funk Master” in gamesmanship.

RELATED: ALJAMAIN STERLING RESPONDS AFTER SEAN O’MALLEY SLIDES INTO HIS DIRECT MESSAGES

Aljamain Sterling Insults Sean O’Malley

Aljamain Sterling held a Q&A session this past weekend as part of an open workout he held in New York. During the session, Sterling predicted a rough night for Sean O’Malley once his back touches the canvas (h/t MMAFighting).

“I want to smash this guy’s face,” Sterling said. “I want to smash the ugly mole rat, the naked mole rat that he is. When I take this man down, that naked mole rat is getting smashed. Smashed.

Sterling went on to throw out the “Dana White privilege” insult O’Malley’s way.

“I want him to pay for everything that he said, all the trash talk, everything, all his Dana White privilege. I didn’t have none of that, and I can’t wait to take it out on him.”

The 135-pound champion went on to say that while he had gripes with the UFC ahead of his August 19 bout with O’Malley, he admitted that certain things were handled behind the scenes that made signing on to defend his gold on a quick turnaround a little easier.

“I don’t like using the word ‘forced,’ but it was decided before I had an opportunity to discuss my health and things like that,” Sterling said. “After I had an opportunity to talk to Hunter and clear the air with everything, they did some good things behind the scenes, which made it more comfortable for me to oblige.”