Alexander Volkanovski gives his pick for the UFC 292 main event

Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski breaks down the UFC 292 main event championship bout between bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley.  

Sterling will attempt to defend his title for the fourth time while O’Malley steps into a championship fight for the first time in his UFC career.

Sean O’Malley’s attributes

“Sean O’Malley, I think he’s up there, one of the best strikers you could say in the UFC.  He’s right up there, especially in that division,” said Volkanovski.  “It is a stacked division and I think he’s right up there as one of the best when it comes to striking, so that’s saying something.  He’s very creative.  He doesn’t just throw flashy stuff.  It’s calculated.  He’s got really good distance management.  He’s very good about drawing strikes out of people and countering.  He’s really good on the offense coming forward.  He’s good even on the back foot.  He’s good on his angles, very, very high level stuff and very creative while he does that.”

Aljamain Sterling’s attributes

“Aljamain can be pretty awkward.  He will come forward.  He will do some weird movements.  He will be there.  He ain’t going to commit aggressively.  He’ll sort of be in your face, flick stuff at you but not fully commit so it can be very awkward for you to just pull the trigger which is sometimes good for him to maybe find opportunities, get someone flustered, overcommit, shoot and get the takedown,” Volkanovski said.  

The Match-up  

“The striking of Sean O’Malley, he’s going to be flicking up front kicks, flicking up knees.  But that can create scrambles and get into the ground control where again, Sean O’Malley is creative on the ground, but I’m very, very comfortable to say that Aljamain’s strength in wrestling may be too much there.  You could be creative but I feel like, I’m sure that Aljamain’s dealt with a lot of dangerous guys off their back on the ground.  I don’t think he’s going to make too many mistakes here, and I think that’s going to be a bad place to be for Sean O’Malley.  So it’s a clear advantage for both.  I don’t feel like you’re going to take too much away from Sean.  I still feel like he’s going to be the dangerous guy he is even when you’ve got that threat of a takedown there.  He’s going to be dangerous on the feet.”

Volkanovski’s Pick

“I’m leaning toward Aljamain because I think that wrestling and control, it’s eventually going to get there and I have to lean to him,” said Volkanovski.  “I will lean to Aljamain.  I think he has a safer way to victory, more percentage-wise, but it could definitely happen for Sean O’Malley.”

Alexander Volkanovski breaks down UFC 292 main card