Former undisputed UFC bantamweight gold holder, Petr Yan has slammed striking contender, Sean O’Malley ahead of their anticipated division clash at UFC 280 this weekend, labelling the Montana native a “whore” at tonight’s pre-fight press conference.
Yan, both a former undisputed and interim bantamweight titleholder, co-headlined UFC 273 back in April of this year, suffering a title unification defeat against two-time opponent, champion, Aljamain Sterling.
As for Dana White’s Contender Series alum, O’Malley, the #11 ranked bantamweight contender has been sidelined since a July official ‘No Contest’ against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 during International Fight Week.
Attempting to prevent a losing run against O’Malley in his ‘Fight Island’ return, Dudinka striker, Yan managed to secure the interim title back in October of last year in an Etihad Arena outing against Cory Sandhagen, scoring an impressive unanimous decision victory.
Petr Yan slams Sean O’Malley with a brutal verbal insult
Prior to a tense face-off – which included a push from Petr Yan, O’Malley questioned the Russian contender’s height – poking fun at the number one contender’s stature, to which Yan replied, “It’s not about height. Just look at him (Sean O’Malley), he looks like a whore on the side of the road.” Complementing Yan’s one-liner, O’Malley said “that was good, that was good.”
Suffering just a sole professional career loss, O’Malley co-headlined UFC 252 back in August 2020 against the surging, Marlon Vera – dropping a first round knockout loss to the streaking Ecuadorian courtesy of a series of ground strikes after suffering a leg injury prior in the first frame.
Clinching the bantamweight crown vacated by former two-weight champion, Henry Cejudo in June of that year, Petr Yan stopped the recently retired former undisputed featherweight titleholder, Jose Aldo with an eventual fifth round ground strikes success.
UFC 280 will feature a vacant lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira, and Islam Makhachev in the pay-per-view event’s headlining tilt.