Reigning UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, doesn’t think Aljamain Sterling would have been able to get back in the fight if referee Mark Goddard hadn’t stopped the fight at the 0:51 mark of the second round and allowed Sean O’Malley to continue to get the takedown.
“It could have gone on a little longer, but it would have ended much worse,” the Nigerian said in another video posted on his YouTube channel. “Shawn was standing over him and ready to finish him – it was a clean finish.”
Before the fight, Adesanya stated that he was betting on O’Malley as he had a premonition of his victory, so he wasn’t too surprised by the result of the match.
“It’s fate. What did I say? I said he’d catch him and knock him out. It’s called fate, what’s to come is what’s to go.”
That said, the UFC champion gave Sterling credit for his post-fight speech and the way he accepted defeat.
“It happens, man. Sometimes you’re a hammer and sometimes you’re a nail.”
As a reminder, the flyweight title fight, which ended with Sean O’Malley winning by technical knockout in the second round, headlined this past weekend’s UFC 292 event in Boston.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/32433-adesanya-dal-otsenku-kontsovke-boya-mezhdu-o-melli-i-sterlingom.html?rand=19907