UFC 292 results: Sterling vs O'Malley analysis and reaction

Sean O’Malley spent months talking the talk, and with everything on the line, he walked the walk.

The brash bantamweight entered the octagon at TD Garden for the main event of UFC 292 to a raucous ovation and delivered on the hype, flooring 135-pound champion — and strong favorite — Aljamain Sterling early in the second round, finishing off a stunning title win in Boston.

After a fairly even first round, Sterling rushed into an exchange in the first minute of the second round and paid for it dearly, as O’Malley caught him with a perfectly-timed counter right hand and followed up with vicious ground-and-pound to put Sterling’s reign to an end and blow the roof off the arena.

Sterling’s vaunted grappling never appeared, as the fight stayed on the feet for the six minutes it took for O’Malley to shock the world.

Just before O’Malley’s upset win, Zhang Weili took care of business in the co-main event, dominating Amanda Lemos from bell to bell to defend her strawweight championship with ease.

The Chinese champion’s wrestling was simply too strong for Lemos through four one-sided rounds, and just to make sure the completeness of her game was obvious, Zhang floored Lemos with a big right hand on the chin and nearly finished the fight in the fifth, but Lemos weathered the punishment to hear the final bell.

“She’s unbelievably tough, I respect her,” Zhang said. “There were so many moments during the fight where I thought she was almost out, but she stayed in the fight.”

From the last second finish in the evening’s very first bout to the crescendo in the main event, it was an action-packed night of fights at the Garden. Here’s how it happened, with live updates and commentary as it all unfolded.

Early prelims

Karine Silva def. Maryna Moroz (submission via guillotine choke, 4:59 of Round 1)

Natalia Silva def. Andrea Lee (unanimous decision)

Andre Petroski def. Gerald Meerschaert (split decision)

Prelims

Brad Katona def. Cody Gibson (unanimous decision, Ultimate Fighter finale)

Kurt Holobaugh def. Austin Hubbard (submission via triangle choke, 2:39 of Round 2, Ultimate Fighter finale)

Gregory Rodrigues def. Denis Tiuliulin (technical knockout via elbows, 1:43 of Round 1)

Brad Tavares def. Chris Weidman (unanimous decision)

Main card

Marlon Vera def. Pedro Munhoz (unanimous decision)

Mario Bautista def. Da’Mon Blackshear (unanimous decision)

Ian Garry def. Neil Magny (unanimous decision)

Zhang Weili (Champion) def. Amanda Lemos (unanimous decision, women’s strawweight championship)

Sean O’Malley def. Aljamain Sterling (champion) (TKO, 0:51 of the first round, men’s bantamweight)

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On top of the belt they each got to carry out of the octagon, Sean O’Malley and Zhang Weili earned themselves an extra chunk of change with a Performance of the Night bonus, with another $50,000 added to their fight purses.

Also cashing in were Brad Katona and Cody Gibson, whose slugfest to open up the ESPN prelims was named Fight of the Night.

Ian Garry isn’t a man short on confidence, and nothing about that changed after a fairly flawless performance against Neil Magny at TD Garden.

What did Garry learn from such a dominant night at the office?

“That I am absolutely sensational at what I do,” Garry said. “I learn, when I talk the talk and walk the walk, that I am honest to myself, and the truth is, I took that fight on seven days notice and look how well I did against a guy I had [no] time to prepare for. I’m elite.”

Just like that, Sean O’Malley is the bantamweight champion of the world.

O’Malley backed up every ounce of his brashness, dropping Aljamain Sterling with a perfectly timed counter right hand and following up with strikes on the ground to finish the champion and win the belt in a stunning upset.

SEAN O’MALLEY DID THAT! 🤯 #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/vI0dSi1rFC

After a long night of action-packed fights, it’s time.

The highly-anticipated main event has arrived, and there’s no wondering who the TD Garden crowd is favoring, with every Sean O’Malley appearance on the video board met with raucous boos, and every shot of Sterling met with heavy boos.

It’s the veteran against the upstart, the grappler against the striker, the champion against the challenger. Follow along with us right here.

The eye test said plenty about how dominant Zhang Weili was in defending her strawweight title, and the numbers backed it up: she landed 288 strikes and absorbed just 21 from Amanda Lemos, the biggest differential ever in a women’s UFC fight.

It was never really in doubt for Zhang Weili, who put an exclamation mark on a dominant title defense with huge right hand that echoed around the arena and dropped Lemos to the canvas. The Brazilian showed incredible durability and toughness to weather the storm and survive the barrage of ground-and-pound that followed.

In the end, Zhang cruised to a comfortable decision on the judges scorecard for her second title defense, outstriking Lemos by a staggering 288-21 margin.

“I work so hard every day,” Zhang said post-fight. “Hard training, easy fight.”

Amanda Lemos stayed on her feet for much of the fourth round, only once getting taken down and quickly getting back up, but it’s all Zhang Weili at TD Garden as the champion looked to take the round from a striking perspective, too.

It’s more of the same in round three, with challenger Amanda Lemos seemingly stuck on her back for much of the five-minute frame. Zhang has been simply too strong with her wrestling and has moved through Lemos on the ground like a hot knife through butter. It’s going to take a hail mary finish from the Brazilian in the championship rounds to get it done.

Zhang Weili looks well on the way to defending her title, as Amanda Lemos has continued to struggle staying on her feet — and off her back — as the Chinese champion controlled her throughout the second round with her wrestling and physicality.

The women’s strawweight title fight started at breakneck pace, with champion Zhang Weili pouncing on a grounded Amanda Lemos and establishing top position; as Lemos fought back to her feet, she snatched what looked like a modified guillotine choke as Zhang slammed her back to the ground. While Lemos hung on tight to try to finish the submission, she paid for the expended energy as Zhang slipped free, got on her back, and rained down punishment to finish the opening round.

WHAT AN OPENING ROUND 😮‍💨 #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/VzwFMslk9W

Well, it’s what we’re all here for: two belts will be given out, either won or defended, relinquished or retained.

Amanda Lemos and Zhang Weili are in the octagon, soon to be followed by Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. We’ll have round-by-round coverage of the championship bouts.

Nobody has been more popular in Boston so far tonight than Ireland’s Ian Garry, who got a huge ovation on the way to the octagon and delivered on the hype, battering Neil Magny from bell to bell to claim the evening’s most dominant decision win thus far.

Garry chopped down Magny’s left leg, leaving the UFC veteran hobbling and teeing off for three rounds as Magny struggled to stay on his feet. The Irish welterweight, who has drawn comparisons to countryman Conor McGregor with his brashness and striking, stayed patient in keeping Magny on the cage and blasting kicks and combinations for 15 minutes en route to an overwhelming scorecard: 30-26, 30-26, and 30-24.

After the win, he called out a former welterweight title contender for his next fight, in what looks on paper like an electric standup matchup.

“To be the best striker in the world, you’ve got to beat the best striker in the world, and I think you know where I’m going with this,” Garry said post-fight. “Give me Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, whenever, wherever, for five rounds, and I will prove that I’m the best welterweight striker in the world.”

In another sharp, technical bantamweight fight, Mario Bautista got it done on the scorecards against Da’Mon Blackshear, who stepped in on short notice — just one week after beating Jose Johnson in Las Vegas — in place of Cody Garbrandt.

In a grappling-heavy matchup, Bautista dominated the final round with lengthy stretches on Blackshear’s back to move to 13-2.

“Chito” Vera won the favor of the crowd, then of the judges, in piecing up Pedro Munhoz on the feet en route to a unanimous decision.

Vera controlled much of the striking exchanges, popping Munhoz with his jab and landing counters on the way out, claiming a clear victory to open up the main card.

UFC 292 in Boston is live on pay-per-view, with Pedro Munhoz and Marlon “Chito” Vera drawing the curtain with a bantamweight fight.

Vera got a huge reception from the TD Garden crowd, as the show has really begun in Boston.

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman returned to the octagon for the first time in two years, and even with the TD Garden crowd firmly behind “The All-American,” the 39-year-old dropped a unanimous decision to Brad Tavares, who was content to sit on the outside and fire off leg kicks to leave Weidman bruised and limping.

In a moment of post-fight sportsmanship, as the prelims came to a close, Tavares helped a struggling Weidman out of the octagon and into the arms of his family, before supporting Weidman’s weight on the way to the locker room.

Brad Tavares defeats Chris Weidman via unanimous decision, 30-27 across the board. After suffering a leg injury during the fight, Weidman is walked out of the octagon by Tavares as Weidman’s family runs over to him. Great show of respect. @BGlobeSports #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/3v4lamYEvK

It’s unclear if UFC 292 will be the last time we see Weidman in the cage, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Want to get a Boston crowd pumped up? How about blasting Sweet Caroline, and putting a Red Sox fan favorite on the big screen?

Johnny Damon led TD Garden in the iconic Fenway tune between fights, flashing his World Series ring and pulling out his hair tie to let his famous locks flow, getting one of the biggest pops of the night so far. Well played, arena production.

It took until UFC 292′s sixth fight for the first knockout to arrive, but it came in a hurry.

Brazilian Gregory Rodrigues needed less than two minutes to dispatch Russian Denis Tiuliulin, hitting a big body lock takedown, taking Tiuliulin’s back, and dropping hellish elbows to the side of the head to finish the fight in a hurry.

VICIOUS ELBOWS FROM GREGORY RODRIGUES 😳#UFC292 pic.twitter.com/9WqT4eDpAp

Rodrigues, known as “Robocop” and a jiu-jitsu world champion, had Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla — an MMA enthusiast who trains in jiu-jitsu in his spare time — out of his seat cageside.

The second Ultimate Fighter crown (and UFC contract) of the night went to Kurt Holobaugh, who cut through Austin Hubbard as soon as the fight hit the mat to win by submission in the second round.

Holobaugh pounced on a Hubbard slipped and looked for a back take, before moving to a mount position and chasing an armbar finish. As Hubbard tried to escape, Holobaugh, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, transitioned smoothly to a triangle choke and got the tap to make his dreams of a third stint in the UFC a reality.

Holobaugh made good use of his post-win microphone time, calling out fan favorite lightweight Paddy Pimblett for a future fight.

Kurt Holobaugh gets the submission to become the #TUF31 lightweight winner 👏 #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/mTJPzIdhU3

Famous locals are starting to fill in the front rows at UFC 292 in Boston, with a pair of Red Sox World Series champions in Johnny Damon and Jonathan Papelbon spotted cageside during the prelims at TD Garden.

The Ultimate Fighter season 31′s bantamweight tournament finished in style, with Canada’s Brad Katona — a fan favorite fighting out of Dublin and a teammate of Conor McGregor — slugging his way back to the UFC after going toe-to-toe with Cody Gibson for 15 minutes and winning a unanimous decision.

The 135-pounders set a frantic pace from the start, but the smaller Katona got the better of the exchanges when the boxing moved inside, jabbing and counter-punching all the way to a second Ultimate Fighter title (having won the featherweight crown for season 27).

And just like that, Team McGregor and @SBG_Ireland wins the @UltimateFighter! Excellent performance @bradkatona, now the Champ Champ of The Ultimate Fighter! Incredible! Team and gym full of double champions. #thanksforthecheese #sbg #ufc #champchamp

While the card did not feature any fighters from the Boston area, there was at least one local entering the octagon Saturday night.

Watertown native Kevin MacDonald will serve as the referee for the co-main event between Zhang Weili and Amanda Lemos for the women’s strawweight title. He also worked the second matchup of the night — Natalie Silva’s unanimous decision victory over Andrea Lee.

The BC High graduate entered the night having served as a referee for 353 mixed martial arts contests across multiple promotions, including UFC and Bellator.

Lightweight contender Michael Chandler was in attendance to see how some of the fighters on his team from “The Ultimate Fighter” fared. Chandler and Conor McGregor served as coaches for the 31st season of the show. The two will square off in the octagon, but a date has not been set/

”I think, you know, when we step inside the octagon, it’s going to be the biggest fight we’ve seen in a very long time and I do think the entire world is looking forward to the greatest comeback in combat sports history,” Chandler said. “Can he do it? Is he still that guy? We don’t know until he actually goes in there and fights me so either way, I’m excited about it. I’m excited to compete against him.”

—Andrew Mahoney

The heavy hitters arrived with the final fight of the UFC 292 early prelims, and the crowd is loving it.

After a reserved first round, Andre Petroski dropped Gerald Meerschaert with a huge left hand and looked like he might finish the fight in the second, before Meerschaert (a veteran of 42 MMA fights and counting) recovered to hear the bell. Meerschaert sent Petroski to the canvas himself early in the final round, and after a series of grappling exchanges, the middleweights spent the final minute standing still and swinging, bringing a huge roar out of the TD Garden crowd.

In a razor-thin split decision, that likely hinged on a fairly uneventful first round, Petroski claimed his 10th professional win in an early fight of the night contender.

Leave it to Boston to make it a crossover episode: a familiar chant — “[expletive] the Yankees!” — has broken out in the lower bowl between rounds of the middleweight bout between Andre Petroski and Gerald Meerschaert. For those of you that bet the under on 8 p.m. for that one, cash your tickets at the window.

It’s a good night to be a Brazilian fighter named Silva.

After Karine Silva’s dramatic late finish in the night’s opening fight, Natalia Silva — no relation — looked similarly impressive in dispatching Andrea Lee in another women’s flyweight bout. After picking apart the American in a dominant first round, with a combination of feints and disguised kicks leaving Lee bloodied and battered, Silva continued to control proceedings in the second and third rounds to cruise to a unanimous decision win.

Lee, for her part, walked through plenty of punishment, but could never establish much of anything against the much faster and more explosive Brazilian.

One fight, one finish.

It’s already an electric atmosphere at TD Garden, and the opening bout delivered, with Karine Silva submitting Maryna Moroz with a slick guillotine finish with just a second left in the first round.

KARINE SILVA GOT THE TAP WITH ONE SECOND LEFT 🤯 #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/voCA4taoZ1

Silva dominated most of the first round on the feet, catching Moroz with heavy strikes and nearly dropping the Ukrainian before shooting for a takedown and establishing top position.

Moroz worked for a reversal, putting Silva on her back, but the Brazilian locked in a tight guillotine choke, getting the tap with no time to spare.

The buzz is building at TD Garden for fight night, with two championship bouts just hours away.

Aljamain Sterling (23-3-0) will defend his men’s bantamweight belt against rising star Sean O’Malley (16-1-0), with Zhang Weili (23-3-0) and Amanda Lemos (13-2-1) squaring off for the women’s strawweight title in the co-main event.

The rest of the card isn’t short on star power; former middleweight champion Chris Weidman (15-6-0) takes on Brad Tavares (19-9-0) at light heavyweight on the prelims; Ian Garry, the latest Irish sensation to hit the UFC, will face longtime UFC veteran Neil Magny; and a pair of Ultimate Fighter finale bouts will see two UFC contracts awarded to promotional hopefuls.

But first, it’s Brazilian Karine Silva (16-4-0) and Ukrainian Maryna Moroz (11-4-0) in the first fight of the night. Follow along.

Amin Touri can be reached at [email protected].