Sean O’Malley has been accepting towards perpetual criticism towards him, despite impressive wins.
Since his entry into the UFC In 2017 via Dana White’s Contender Series, Sean O’Malley has mostly put on spectacular performances, so far. In 2021 alone, “Sugar” Sean won all of his three fights via TKO, all of which he won post-fight bonuses for.
The 27-year-old O’Malley is currently slated for the toughest test of his career when he faces number nine-ranked Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 this weekend. But even if he emerges victorious, he feels his detractors will still have something to criticize him about.
“I could submit Khabib and people will be like, ‘yeah, but…’ They’d say something,” O’Malley said during Wednesday’s media day.
“I have paid no attention to what the negative fans say. It doesn’t matter to me. Yes, I’ll go out there and finish Pedro, and yes, it will be like ‘Yeah, but…’ So, doesn’t matter.”
Currently ranked number 13, O’Malley is fully aware of the implications of a win over Munhoz.
“A win over him would be huge, but a finish over Pedro would be massive. And I’m all about the massive. I’m trying to go above and beyond and perform for the people. And people want to see people’s lights get put out,” he said.
“Winning a decision, I would not be upset against Pedro, ‘cause he’s very, very tough. But I definitely want to put his lights out.”
And if he does get the job done, O’Malley already has some potential opponents in mind.
“There’s a little Russian dude running around saying no one wants to fight him. That’s an option. Fob Ront might be an option. He got beat up a couple of times so he might not be,” he told reporters.
“The division’s crazy right now, lot of guys are already booked, so we’ll just have to see how the fights play out here in the next couple of months.”
UFC 276 happens on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to cap off International Fight Week.