Sean O’Malley drills exact shot that knocked out Aljamain Sterling moments before landing finishing blow in UFC 292 main event

Footage has surfaced of Sean O’Malley drilling the exact shot with which he knocked out Aljamain Sterling on Saturday to take home 135 pounds of gold.

O’Malley stopped Sterling in the second round of their UFC 292 main event attraction in front of a capacity crowd at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

After a cagey opener, O’Malley caught Sterling with a vicious right-hand step that the former bantamweight champion would not recover from.

Creating space with his feet and firing the shot over his opponent’s lazy lead punch, the punch was a thing of beauty – and the result of hours of meticulous fine-tuning.

“Hitting backwards is a skill that not many people possess and I can punch backwards and I knew he would put pressure on me and I know he likes to throw to shoot,” O’Malley said at his post-fight press conference. .

“He likes to throw for me to counter so he can shoot under. So I knew he was going to come in with shots.

“It really wasn’t even a bad punch he threw, it’s just that I’m so f****** accurate. I caught him.

“I’ve been saying all week, I’m a sniper. I’m going to shoot his chin. I go find it and there we were. That’s definitely a blow I’ve been visualizing all week.”

O’Malley’s victory marks the end of Sterling’s two-and-a-half year reign as bantamweight champion.

Prior to the fight, ‘Aljo’ had indicated that he would be moving up to featherweight due to the effort of cutting down to 135 pounds.

Therefore, it is unlikely that a rematch will take place. Instead, a battle with Sterling’s teammate and No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili seems like the most likely option.

Dvalishvili had been waiting for Sterling to leave the division before challenging for the title and now looks to be next in line for a shot at the world title.