The coronation of ‘Suga’, Zhang’s domain
The Boston crowd blew up with one of the biggest upsets of the year. When Aljamain Sterling was looking to establish himself as the greatest in bantamweight history, Sean O’Malley’s right-hand man radically changed the landscape of one of the most competitive divisions in the UFC.
The TD Garden had another historic night with the 135-pound belt change and a potential challenger approaching that same night.
In the second fight for the championship, the women’s 115-pound fight, Chinese Zhang Weili left no doubts about her quality and took leaps and bounds to conquer the American public. For the first time she spoke in English into the microphone and the response in the stands after her victory was welcome.
Ian Garry struggled to finish off an experienced Neil Magny, but the performance was unquestionable, on a night plagued with decisions, with two new Ultimate Fighter champions and another tough stage for former champion Chris Weidman, who after two years of rehab may have operate again.
The other big winner of the night could be the Ecuadorian Marlon Vera, who defeated Pedro Munhoz and is positioned as a possible challenger, especially with the pending history that he has with the now champion O’Malley.
This is the best that the night of UFC 292 in Boston left us.
Sean O’Malley clarifies doubts
The similarities of the rise of ‘Suga’ with that of Conor McGregor do not cease and he now has the championship to close the cycle.
His path was met with much criticism, certainly shorter than most even for a contender’s fight. that he had against Petr Yan, the former champion who opened the door for him to fight for the title.
O’Malley did what seemed impossible from the outside against Aljamain Sterling, who couldn’t take him down, get behind him or show all of the things that led him to defend his championship three times.
The new king of the category stayed away from him, threatening every time the opponent got close and defending Aljo’s two attempts to take him down.
We already knew he was dangerous with his boxing, but the way he crosses Sterling walking backwards is reminiscent of great knockouts like Stipe Miocic’s right hand knockout of Fabricio Werdum and Conor’s own knockout of Jose Aldo.
The great moment of his career and the beginning of “The Era of Suga”, the most popular fighter in the category and now world champion.
The perfect situation for Chito Vera
Although the Ecuadorian lost earlier this year to Cory Sandhagen, he rebounded with a quality victory over Pedro Munhoz on the perfect night.
Few could anticipate a scenario that would be more beneficial for Chito, he wins on the same card in which O’Malley is crowned, they have a pending account, since he is the only one who has beaten him and Sean continues to deny defeat. claiming injury. .
Although it was not the most brilliant of his victories, the public knows that it will be a great clash of styles between the two and also wants to fight soon.
Injuries like those of Henry Cejudo, Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen, who appear above the South American in the ranking, favor him, since none of the three have a clear return date and Sean wants to fight in December.
Chinese duel in the future
Amanda Lemos had a big heart but few arguments to compete against a champion like Zhang Weili, who dominated her for five rounds before an audience devoted to her.
After this defense, Weili closes the gap with the great history of the category, Joanna Jedrzejzyck and now her next rival could be a compatriot.
Yan Xioanan comes from beating Jessica Andrade and McKenzie Dern to get in a position to challenge. Although it is not yet a fact, the UFC could visit China before the end of the year and it would be an unbeatable opportunity to have them as protagonists.
