Aljamain Sterling wanted to please the fans — and it led to his demise.

Sterling suffered defeat for the first time in nearly six years following a second-round TKO loss to Sean O'Malley in their UFC 292 bantamweight title headliner this past weekend.

After struggling to get close to O'Malley for a takedown in the first round — which all three judges thought Sterling won — the 34-year-old looked to close the distance in the second stanza.

However, O'Malley caught him with a precision counter right as he was coming in before finishing the fight with ground and pound to become the new 135-pound king.

Sterling's head coach Ray Longo praised “Sugar” for his striking ability, but also believes his pupil cost himself by trying not to make the contest similar to Israel Adesanya's title fight with Yoel Romero.

“The guy is good,” Longo said on the Anik & Florian Podcast (via MMA Junkie). “He’s a great striker – there’s no question about it. Look, all three judges gave Aljo the first round, and I think deservingly so. But in between rounds, I really told Aljo, ‘Let’s go kick heavy. Let’s offset his punches. What I was looking at in the first round was a guy that didn’t want to commit. I think he was afraid of the takedown, and we knew that was going to happen, but I wasn’t really sure. I think O’Malley expected Aljo to do in the first round what he did in the second round.

“Aljo’s point was he could have made it like an Adesanya vs. Romero fight, but it would have been so displeasing to the crowd – which I’m surprised, because normally he doesn’t talk like he gives a s**t about the crowd. The burden would have been on Sean. He would have been down two rounds if Aljo just does the same thing as in the first round. I don’t think he was making a move. Now I think it’s because he was waiting for Aljo to shoot in, but then somebody said he did have a bad rib. Maybe that played into it, too, that he was just going to keep his distance. But motherf****r was accurate. He hit a beautiful counter.”

Adesanya notably defeated Romero in a drab unanimous decision back in March 2020 in a five-round fight where neither men really took the initiative. It's been regarded as one of the worst title fights in UFC history.

In hindsight, however, Aljamain Sterling probably wishes he was a bit more conservative as it may have led to him defending his title — especially as it's down to O'Malley to take the initiative and bring the fight to him.