Fans have hailed Sean O'Malley's spectacular knockout of Aljamain Sterling as one of the best in the history of MMA.<br /><br />'Suga' entered the main event of UFC 292 as a sizeable underdog, with Sterling riding a nine-fight undefeated streak and possessing some of the most dominant grappling skills the division has ever seen.<br /><br />When the two met inside the Octagon in Saturday's headline bout Sterling immediately set about imposing his wrestling but was unable to secure a takedown across his two attempts in a tentative first five minutes.<br /><br />The defending champion opened the second more aggressively, pushing forward while O'Malley skilfully managed to stay just out of range of his strikes before defending a takedown attempt against the cage.<br /><br />Forced back onto the outside, Sterling again tried to close the distance by driving forward with a left straight but O'Malley expertly pulled back and clipped the onrushing Sterling with a picture-perfect counter right, sending him tumbling to the canvas before finishing him off with ground and pound.<br /><br />Breaking from convention, the UFC uploaded the stoppage on social media immediately following the event, with the KO racking up more than 2 million views in three hours on X.<br /><br />One fan wrote: 'Wow, what a knockout by Suga Sean O'Malley! That was incredible, the way he landed that shot and snuck it in there. Truly a testament to his skill and precision in the octagon.'<br /><br />Another added: 'One of the most beautiful shots we've seen in a long time. Sean O'Malley is gonna go down as one of the cleanest, most precise strikers in MMA.'<br /><br />A further UFC fan agreed: 'The most beautiful pull counter I have probably ever seen. Picture perfect.'<br /><br />Several fans also compared O'Malley's victory to Conor McGregor's KO of Jose Aldo in 2015.<br /><br />Much like Saturday's main event, the UFC 194 main event saw a highly-touted challenger face off against a long-reigning champion with UFC gold on the line.<br /><br />The only significant differences between O'Malley and McGregor's stoppage wins were the round the KO occurred in and the hand it was delivered.<br /><br />In McGregor's case, he defeated Jose Aldo just thirteen seconds into the first round, and he intercepted the Brazilian charging forward with a pull counter from his patented left hand.<br /><br />As an outspoken fan-favorite striker with devastating finishing instincts, O'Malley is bound to draw comparisons to McGregor. Now Dana White will be hoping the 28-year-old can replicate the Irishman's success as a pay-per-view draw moving forward.....
