Dana White has announced a couple of bangers for UFC 292.
Taking place on August 19 in Boston, Massachusetts, the card will feature Aljamain Sterling defending his bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley in the main event. In the co-main, Zhang Weili will defend her women’s strawweight belt against Amanda Lemos.
Aljo taking on ‘Sugar’ was teased at UFC 288 as the pair faced off in the Octagon in the wake of Sterling’s win over Henry Cejudo.
‘Funk Master’ spoke about the O’Malley match-up on the MMA Hour this week ahead of the official announcement for UFC 292. The 33 year old is expecting a big payday from the bout and doesn’t see his opponent as much of a threat.
“At the end of the day, it’s good business, because this card is supposed to be massive,” explained Sterling ahead of the UFC 292 confirmation. “Supposedly, from what I’m being told behind the scenes, Dana is really going to stack this card. And if he stacks this card, that’s a good motivator in itself to be on a big card, because you don’t get pay-per-view points if you’re not the champ. So it’s like, there’s a lot of things that go into this. And to drag a guy like O’Malley down, what’s this guy going to do to me? Really?”
Boston we are BACK and we’re bringing two titles fights with us!! 🏆@FunkMasterMMA vs @SugaSeanMMA@MMAWeili vs Amanda Lemos
Official for #UFC292 on August 19th! pic.twitter.com/YIX2bVv3iW
— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2023
The Sterling vs O’Malley match-up at UFC 292 may have come as little surprise to MMA fans, but eyebrows may have been raised at the decision to give a strawweight title shot to Amanda Lemos.
Lemos is coming off of back-to-back stoppage wins but was submitted in the first round by Jessica Andrade last year. Meanwhile, Dana White had strongly hinted that he intended to match Zhang Weili with her countrywoman Yan Xiaonan in China. This, after ‘Nine’ was able to tap out Andrade at UFC 288. That win was Xiaonan’s second in a row following her loss to Marina Rodriguez at UFC 272. Currently, the Chinese fighter is ranked at #3 in the division, while Lemos sits one place behind her at #4.
This will be Zhang Weili’s first defence of the belt in what is her second reign as champion following her submission win over Carla Ezparza at UFC 281.
What are you thoughts on these latest fight announcements for UFC 292?
