Alexander Volkanovski believes Sean O'Malley is one of the best strikers in the UFC.

O'Malley will look to become bantamweight champion on his first attempt when he challenges current champion Aljamain Sterling in the UFC 292 headliner Saturday night in Boston.

Although he's the underdog in what is a classic striker vs. grappler matchup, he always has a chance given that a fight always begins on the feet.

And as far as UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski is concerned, O'Malley is not only one of the best strikers at 135 pounds — he's also one of the best in the entire promotion period.

“Sean O’Malley, I think he’s up there as one of the best strikers in the UFC, he’s right up there,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel (via MMA Fighting). “Especially in that division. There’s so many — that’s a stacked division. You’ve got your [Cory] Sandhagens, obviously, Petr Yans, Aljamains, there’s so much talent.

“Man, it is a stacked division and I think he’s one of the best when it comes to striking. So that’s saying something. He’s very creative, doesn’t just throw flash stuff. It’s calculated. He’s got really good distance management, he’s really good at drawing strikes out of people and countering. He’s really good on the offense, coming forward. He’s good even on the back foot. He’s good on his angles. Very, very high-level stuff and he can be very creative while he does that.”

It's certainly high praise for O'Malley from arguably the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world as well as one of the best strikers in the UFC himself in Volkanovski. Of his 16 professional wins, 11 have come by way of knockout or TKO for the man known as “Sugar.”

But all that said, Volkanovski still finds it hard to pick O'Malley against the grappling of Sterling.

“I’m leaning towards Aljamain because I just think that that wrestling and that control and is gonna eventually get there,” Volkanovski explained. “… I feel like it could definitely be a TKO for Sean O’Malley because his striking is that good, but I will lean towards Aljamain, I think he has got a more safer way to victory.

“More percentage-wise, I’m always gonna go there, but it could definitely happen for Sean O’Malley. We know he’s gonna turn up. This is a massive fight for him. We know he wants to get paid and he knows what winning’s gonna do for his paycheck. Being the champ, the money is good, we ain’t gonna lie about that.”

Should Sterling emerge victorious, perhaps he could be the one facing Volkanovski next.