Sean O’Malley scoffs at the ‘star power’ of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling: “They can’t even headline their own pay-per-view”

Sean O’Malley finds it “crazy” that Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling don’t have the star power to headline a UFC pay-per-view.

Yan (16-2 MMA) and Sterling (21-3 MMA) were slated to co-headline March’s UFC 272 event in Las Vegas.

However, after Max Holloway was forced to withdraw from the slated event headliner with featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski, the promotion decided to push the Yan-Sterling rematch back to UFC 273, this instead of moving the highly anticipated bantamweight title unification bout to main event status.

For UFC star Sean O’Malley, his employers decision just goes to show the lack of star power that Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling possess.

“You know what is crazy to me, that Petr and ‘Aljo’ can’t main event their own pay-per-view. So their (the UFC’s) main event (Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 3) pulled out and they (Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling) could not just be the main event? They’re not big enough.” O’Malley said on episode 171 of his ‘TimboSugarShow’ podcast. “It is so weird. This (135lbs) is the best division in the UFC. (Well) maybe, and they can’t even headline their own pay-per-view!”

Sean O’Malley (15-1 MMA) most recently competed at last months UFC 269 event where he defeated Raulian Paiva via first round TKO. That win marked Suga’s third stoppage victory in a row, as he had previously scored finishes over Kris Moutinho and Thomas Almeida.

It remains to be seen who the ‘Suga Show’ will fight next, but he recently shut down the idea of a possible bout with former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt.

“After Cody got knocked out, I got asked at the press conference: ‘What do you wanna say?’. And I just said, ‘I feel bad for him’. He’s lost a lot of fights in a row, and I don’t really have anything negative to say about him.” Sean O’Malley said of Cody Garbrandt on Michael Bisping’s ‘Believe You Me‘ podcast. “It’s just tough. If I go out there and beat him… I do not see it doing much for me right now. He’s 1-6 or something in his last seven. I think he’s won one fight since 2017. I go out there and beat him, it doesn’t really do what it would’ve (done) three or four fights ago. I go out there and lose to Cody, who’s 1-7 and just got knocked out, that does a lot of negative damage towards me. I just don’t think that’s realistically the next fight.”

What do you think of the recent comments from Sean O’Malley and who would you like to see ‘Suga’ fight next? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!