All eyes were on the Suga Show heading into UFC 292, with Sean O’Malley set for his first UFC title fight against bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling. Also on the card was UFC strawweight champ Zhang Weili, who made the first title defense of her second championship reign against rising challenger Amanda Lemos. Those two championship fights were the headliners, but there were plenty of other happenings to be discussed as well. So without further wait, here are my five takeaways from UFC 292.
The Suga Show Is On Top
Heading into UFC 292, Sean O’Malley had to deal with the pressure of the biggest fight of in his career to-date. His first career championship opportunity finally came against Aljamain Sterling, the UFC bantamweight champ, who became the first UFC men’s champion to defend the title at 135 lbs three times in a single reign.
O’Malley’s rise to a championship opportunity drew comparisons to that of Conor McGregor, with his slick striking and immense popularity. The only difference was O’Malley’s rise being slowed due to injury. This fight was O’Malley’s chance to reach the top of the mountain and Sterling’s chance to lay claim to being the best 135-pound fighter of all time.
The first round was mostly a feeling out process, with Sterling winning the close round with late clinch control up against the cage in the last 20 seconds. Sterling went to his grappling when the second round started, trying to get O’Malley down early in the round. However, O’Malley stuffed the takedown attempt and hit him with a right hand while sliding backwards as Sterling pressed forward. O’Malley then finished the fight with some follow up punches to become the new UFC bantamweight champ. The knockout was super clean, and was reminiscent of Conor McGregor’s knockout of Jose Aldo to win his first UFC title when McGregor hit Aldo with a left hand while sliding back.
O’Malley now has plenty of options for a first title defense. He’d like a title fight against Marlon Vera, who handed him his only career loss after O’Malley suffered an injury during the fight. Merab Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling’s training partner, is another option. Dvalishvili was ranked as the number one contender in the bantamweight division ahead of O’Malley entering UFC 292.
Absolute Domination From Zhang Weili
After her first reign atop the strawweight division, Zhang Weili has gone back to the drawing board and returned to the top a better and more dominant fighter. After winning the strawweight title from Carla Esparza in convincing fashion, Zhang’s first title defense in her second reign would came against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292. Lemos had won seven of her previous eight fights going into the event, with her only loss coming to former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade. Four of Lemos’ last five wins have come with a finish, including three via KO/TKO.
As worthy a challenger as Lemos was, and regardless of how well she did to stay in the fight and take it to the distance, it was one-way traffic for Zhang Weili. It was a master class of combat supremacy. From dominating on the ground to out-striking Lemos from the stand-up, it was as one-sided as a fight can get. Zhang had a total of 16 minutes of control time on the ground and in the clinch throughout the 25-minute fight. What makes it even more impressive is that the fourth round was almost entirely standing, meaning Zhang was in control for 15 minutes out of 20 minutes of fight time excluding the fourth round. The official scorecards showed how dominant of a performance it was, with Zhang winning unanimously by scores of 50-43, 49-45, and 50-44.
Zhang’s next opponent is a big question mark as of now. You could make the argument that fellow two-time champ Rose Namajunas would be a candidate. However, she hasn’t fought since losing the title to Carla Esparza in May of 2022. Namajunas is also scheduled to move up to flyweight for her next fight on September 7. Zhang also beat Carla Esparza in dominant fashion, which removes both the number one and two strawweight contenders from the conversation. The third- and fourth-ranked contenders are interesting though. Yan Xiaonan, who is on a two-fight win streak, could be an option. But the most interesting possibility is Tatiana Suarez, who made her return after almost four years off in when she beat Montana De La Rosa at flyweight in February. She then beat Jessica Andrade at strawweight in her second fight back. She’s currently undefeated in 11 fights, and another win could very well propel Suarez to a title shot.
Ian Machado Garry Is Actually “The Future”
Ian Machado Garry was originally set to face Geoff Neal at UFC 292. Neal was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury though, so Neil Magny subbed in for a fight that was still set to be the biggest of Garry’s career. Garry is nicknamed “The Future,” and he lived up to the moniker by dismantling Neil Magny, who is no easy opponent. Garry was dominant, winning unanimously by scores of 30-26, 30-26, and 30-24.
Garry just continues to get better. UFC has big plans for the undefeated (13-0) Garry, who has immense talent. UFC wants him to fight on the UFC 295 card in November at Madison Square Garden, a place where fellow Irishman Conor McGregor has had success. Stephen Thompson, who Garry wanted to face, because he wants his next fight to take place prior to November.
Opponents for Garry’s next fight could include options such as Geoff Neal, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque, or even Gilbert Burns if UFC really wants to jump Garry up towards the top of the division. However, it is still unknown who Garry will be fighting if he does indeed fight at MSG in November. None of Luque, Brady, Neal, or Burns have their next fight officially scheduled, so all would make sense for Garry.
The Winners of The Ultimate Fighter
The prelims of UFC 292 featured two fights that would determine the winners of season 31 of the UFC’s reality show, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). Season 31 featured a “veterans vs rookies” theme, with fighters in both the bantamweight and lightweight divisions. The finals for the bantamweight division featured Brad Katona, who was the TUF 27 winner, facing off with Cody Gibson. The finals for the lightweight division pitted Kurt Holobaugh against his TUF teammate Austin Hubbard.
In the bantamweight final, which turned out to be the Fight of the Night, Brad Katona proved why he won season 27 of TUF, beating Gibson by unanimous decision. With the win, Katona is now the first ever two-time winner of The Ultimate Fighter. Katona’s was 2-2 in his previous UFC run, including the finale of TUF 27. One of his two losses came to Merab Dvalishvili, who is the number one contender in the bantamweight division. Katona went on a four fight win streak outside the UFC before appearing on TUF, where he won two more fights to get to the finale. With Katona back on a winning streak and winning TUF, he now has the chance to rewrite the missteps of his first UFC run and find success.
In the lightweight final, Kurt Holobaugh beat Austin Hubbard via submission with a triangle choke to win TUF. Holobaugh has had two previous stints in the UFC. His first run came after the UFC bought Strikeforce, where he only had one fight. UFC honored his Strikeforce contract and he lost in his UFC debut before eventually getting cut. Holobaugh eventually earned his way back to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series. However, he lost three fights in a row (against tough opponents such as Shane Burgos and Thiago Moises) and was cut again. All of Holobaugh’s previous UFC fights came in the featherweight division. His return to the lightweight division could give Holobaugh a better run in his third UFC stint, and UFC 292 was a good start.
UFC 293 Look Ahead
Now that UFC 292 is in the past, it’s now time to look ahead to UFC 293, which will be taking place in Sydney, Australia. Headlining UFC 293 will be middleweight champ Israel Adesanya taking on Sean Strickland. Adesanya, who lives in New Zealand, wanted to fight in Australia, and the only contender aside from Dricus Du Plessis that Adesanya hasn’t faced is the number five ranked Sean Strickland. The fight between Du Plessis and Adesanya will come soon, but Du Plessis wasn’t able to make the quick turnaround to fight at UFC 293. That left the opening for Strickland, another man that Adesanya doesn’t necessarily like.
Also on the card for UFC 293 is a top-ten heavyweight matchup, with Tai Tuivasa facing Alexander Volkov in a fight that seemingly should produce a knockout. Tuivasa, a native Australian, will also have homefield advantage. Kai Kara-France had been set to face Manel Kape in a top-ten flyweight bout, but had to pull out due to a recent concussion. Every fight announced for the card thus far features a fighter from Australia or New Zealand, including Justin Tafa, Tyson Pedro, Carlos Ulberg, Jack Jenkins, Jamie Mullarkey, Mike Mathetha, Shane Young, and Casey O’Neill.
There are two Fight Night cards scheduled prior to UFC 293. The first is headlined by former UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway facing “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, who will be taking part in his last professional fight. That card also features a co-main event with Anthony Smith facing Ryan Spann in a fight between top-ten light heavyweights. The rest of the main card has some solid fights as well, such as Giga Chikadze facing Alex Caceres in a battle of top 15 featherweights, plus Erin Blanchfield facing Talia Santos in a top-five women’s flyweight bout. The main card starts at 8 AM EST due to the fights taking place in Singapore. However, if you want to watch some morning fights on August 26th, this is a great card to check out.
The other Fight Night is on September 2, with the main card kicking off from France at 3 PM EST. French fighter Ciryl Gane once again headlines in his home nation, this time against rising heavyweight Serghei Spivac. Although that is a very interesting fight, the fight that is arguably even more interesting is the co-main, with former two-time women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas moving up to flyweight to face the number-two ranked contender Manon Fiorot, who is undefeated in UFC and has never lost an MMA flyweight bout in her entire career. Being from France, Fiorot will have the homefield advantage just like Gane. If Fiorot wins, there is good reason to believe she could be the next challenger for the women’s flyweight title after Alexa Grasso’s upcoming rematch with former champ Valentina Shevchenko.
That wraps up my recap of UFC 292. It was a great night of fights, and it was capped off by a rising superstar claiming their first championship, as Sean O’Malley won the bantamweight title with one of the cleanest KO punches you’ll see. If there’s anything you took away from UFC 292 that you would like to share, make sure to tweet it out to myself @derrik_maguire and to @BleacherBrawl to let us know your thoughts.