Sean O'Malley is not surprised he's being viewed as the underdog going into his fight with Aljamain Sterling.

O'Malley will look to become a champion in his first attempt when he challenges Sterling for the bantamweight title in the UFC 292 headliner taking place this Saturday in Boston.

Many believe Sterling's wrestling will prove too much for O'Malley while the latter is also a solid betting underdog. But much like his last fight against Petr Yan, “Sugar” is relishing the opportunity to upset the odds and prove people wrong against who he deems to be the bantamweight GOAT.

“Aljamain Sterling is the best bantamweight the UFC has ever known,” O’Malley told ESPN (via MMA Junkie). “He’s in his prime. He’s 33, I think – that’s pretty much prime age. All the male UFC champions are in their 30s. He’s the best grappler in the division. I’m a striker. This is a striker vs. grappler matchup, so it’s exciting.

“It gets me excited. I want to go out there and prove people wrong. The last fight, everyone thought I was going to lose that fight. Then when I won the fight, it just made people so mad. I liked that. For whatever reason, I liked that. So for me to go out there and be a huge underdog again against Aljamain, it’s a weird addiction.”

Sean O'Malley took a major step up in competition when he fought Yan last year. Although it was close and competitive, many observers felt Yan did enough to win.

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However, O'Malley got the decision and feels he could have done even better had he not made the mistake of assuming Yan wouldn't shoot against him.

This time, however, he's confident of Sterling's game plan and understands why people would pick the wrestler over the striker.

“Aljamain beat Petr in their last fight,” O’Malley added. “I looked at the Petr fight. I made a mistake. I did not expect him to wrestle or shoot at all. I train grappling all the time – in camp, we grapple.

“But for this fight, we know he’s going to shoot, so we’ve got to have a game plan around that, whereas the Petr fight, it was more of a kickboxing camp. Wrestler vs. grappler (striker), most people pick the wrestlers – so this fight for sure (is like that).”