Despite having his proverbial hands full with incoming bantamweight championship challenger, Marlon Vera this weekend at UFC 299 – Sean O’Malley has already plotted a dominant, quickfire knockout win over recently-minted featherweight kingpin, Ilia Topuria in the near future.
O’Malley, the current undisputed bantamweight champion, is slated to headline UFC 299 this weekend in the promotion’s return to Miami, Florida.
Attempting to avenge his first professional loss, O’Malley takes on Ecuadorian favorite, Vera – after the latter stopped him with a first round ground strikes TKO win four years ago during the pair’s bantamweight rise.
Minting himself as the best at bantamweight last August, however, O’Malley turned in a stunning second round knockout win over record-setting champion, Aljamain Sterling – coronating himself as the 135 pound champion.
And staking his claim for a rematch with Chone rival, Vera off the back of his victory over Sterling, O’Malley will attempt to lodge his first championship defense in ‘The Sunshine State’ this weekend.
Sean O’Malley previews Ilia Topuria showdown
Furthermore, despite Georgian force, Merab Dvalishvili distinctly waiting in the wings to challenge for gold come the culmination of UFC 299, Montana native, O’Malley has claimed he would stop the aforenoted, Topuria in quickfire fashion to become a two-weight champion, before returning to his bantamweight stomping grounds.
“[A] beautiful performance,” Sean O’Malley told assembled media of Ilia Topuria’s title win over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 last month. “I was there live, it was a cool moment. It was, you know – Ilia is a scary little dude. That fight [with him] excites me. [I] would definitely like to get that fight, eventually.”
“Yeah, I would move up to 145 [pounds] for that,’ Sean O’Malley explained. “But, I’m a bantamweight, you know, for the next couple years. If I did do that, you know, it would be up there, just go up there, and knock him out real quick, then head back down [to bantamweight].”
Who wins in a future super fight: Ilia Topuria or Sean O’Malley?