Sean O’Malley isn’t going to have any “easy” fights going forward.

The bantamweight division has arguably gotten as good as it has ever been in recent years. To obtain the throne atop the mountain, O’Malley had to get through the most dominant champion since its all-time best, Dominick Cruz, in the form of Aljamain Sterling. Needing just over one round to put away “Funk Master” with strikes, O’Malley started his title reign at UFC 292 last August and has defended his belt once.

That doesn’t mean O’Malley has fought the toughest competition possible, according to the former champion Sterling. In fact, he believes the opposite was the case for “Sugar,” who earned his opportunity off a controversial split decision nod over another former champion, Petr Yan.

“I want to see the best of the best compete, no excuses,” Sterling said on Verse Us with Eric Nicksick. “Now, enter O’Malley. He fights one ranked guy and gets a title shot — a split decision albeit. This is not me hating. This is just calling a spade a spade. He was supposed to fight me next, which would give me enough time to prepare. But instead, they say [Henry] Cejudo is coming back, we want you to fight him. In the back of their mind, they’re like, ‘Whoever wins this, we’re going to turn them around for August.’

“So, he knows all this. I’m pretty sure he knows all this. Only O’Malley could disclose this, right? Or at least the UFC knew that’s what they wanted to do for sure. Give him the best opportunity that they could to become a world champion by hindering and stacking the deck against his opponent. For me, as a competitor, I can never respect that as a man — as a man, as a competitor. It’s like the Jake Paul route. Stacking the deck so that you get these highlights or you get these favorable matchups and these wins to look as good as you do.”

O’Malley’s career has certainly been loaded with highlights thus far, including the TKO of Sterling. Overall, the 20-fight veteran (18-1, 1 NC) has scored 12 knockout wins with only one submission under his belt.

As the champion, the next two possible title defenses will certainly be the hardest to overcome for O’Malley, and that’s if he wins his next one. Currently booked to face Merab Dvalishvili in Noche UFC’s main event on Sept. 14, the undefeated 18-0 Umar Nurmagomedov is expected to await the winner. Ultimately, Sterling believes the order of things has gone a bit backward when comparing their title reigns and it started with O’Malley’s first title defense at UFC 299 in May.

“O’Malley could be a great champion, but for him to go on and fight the No. 6 ranked guy in [Marlon] ‘Chito’ [Vera] and then put on a clinic — okay, great,” Sterling said. “But again, stacking the deck and favorable matchups for you to look and appear as you’re ‘him.’

“He should have fought Merab first before fighting ‘Chito.’ …You get an easier title defense against a guy you’re clearly world’s better than. Stylistically, the guy’s not going to try and take you down. He can’t take you down because he has no wrestling ability, and he’s ranked six. He didn’t even deserve to be in there.”

While O’Malley has Sterling’s best friend and teammate Dvalishvili to worry about next, “Funk Master” will look to become the first fighter to defeat the 18-0 Movsar Evloev in a featherweight affair at UFC 307 on Oct. 5.