Aljamain Sterling beat Henry Cejudo to defend his UFC bantamweight title on Saturday night, and was promptly goaded by rival Sean O’Malley in the cage.
Sterling won a split-decision victory over Cejudo after 25 minutes of tough fighting between the contenders.
Cejudo was making his way back to UFC after a three-year retirement, and after the clash he acknowledged that the disappointment of defeat might cause him to quit the sport for good.
In the last weeks it has appeared that UFC and WWE may be merging, and the MMA franchise took a leaf out of sports entertainment’s handbook when O’Malley proceeded to enter the ring after Sterling called for his rival.
“’Suga Sean,’ where the f*** you at b****?” Sterling yelled. ““Daddy Dana [White] ain’t gonna babysit that ass no more. So why’d you run? Why’d you turn down the title shot? That’s what I thought. Cause I’ll drag your ass up and down this octagon. Get the f*** out my cage. Get this piece of s*** out my cage.”
O’Malley had entered the cage after the fight’s denouement and an unsanctioned bout looked on the cards as he squared up to Sterling’s teammate, Merab Dvalishvili, but security staff calmed down the confrontation.
Sterling and O’Malley then stared one another, before O’Malley gave his reply.
“You better hope you look better than that,” O’Malley said. “You look like s***.”
O’Malley boasts an Intense Fighting Championship bantamweight belt, but has yet to earn a UFC strap.