Sterling disagrees with 'weird' UFC 292 stoppage

Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling believes referee Marc Goddard waved off his fight against Sean O'Malley too early.

Sterling, who lost his title to O'Malley by second-round TKO at UFC 292 last weekend in Boston, said he wishes Goddard gave him more time to get out of danger.

"There was not one moment where I was actually out, where I wasn't defending myself," Sterling said earlier this week on his "The Weekly Scraps" podcast. "(O'Malley) was going batshit crazy, throwing all these hammerfists, trying to pick his shots. A couple of them landed, but nothing where it was like, yo, I'm rocked from the impact of the punch. It was just weird."

Less than a minute into the second round of the UFC 292 main event, O'Malley dropped Sterling with a perfect counter right as the ex-champ stepped forward. Sterling turned to his back and appeared to try to scramble to his feet, but O'Malley followed up with punches on the ground, and Goddard stepped in.

Moving forward, Sterling said he wants to better understand what referees consider intelligent defense.

"I'm not saying I would've came back and miraculously won," Sterling said. "That fight either gets uglier - maybe he puts me out cold - or I get to the leg, and he gets tired, and maybe I get the takedown, and maybe it's a crazy five-round war. Now, we just never know."

Sterling planned to move up to the featherweight division with a victory over O'Malley, intending to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for a second UFC belt. But now, his No. 1 priority is getting a rematch against O'Malley to regain the bantamweight throne.

"I always said it beforehand, and I'm saying it even after the fact: The kid is good at what he does," Sterling said. "The kid's a good fighter. I am interested to see how long he can actually hold onto that spot. I would love to get that rematch. ... Not until 2024, though."

O'Malley expressed interest in making his first title defense at UFC 296 in December, and Marlon Vera and Merab Dvalishvili are potential candidates to be his opponent. That's fine with Sterling, who said he doesn't want to rush back to the Octagon after the loss.

"I want to make sure that I'm coming back at the right time, I'm taking the time off that I need to miss it and to want to compete," Sterling said.

"Right now, I have no desire to (train or compete)," he continued. "I am burnt the funk out - all the way out. I think this sport will do that to you, especially at the highest level. These are 25-minute fights now. It's different."

Though his sights are set on an eventual rematch with O'Malley, Sterling said it won't be the end of the world if he never regains UFC gold.

"My motivation is to get the belt back, of course, but if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it's just one of those things," Sterling said. "Am I going to be extremely distraught about it, like, 'Oh my God, my life is so sad?' Nah, life's good. At the end of the day, no complaints about anything. I just regret throwing that stupid-ass left hand."