Sean O’Malley thinks things worked out in Cody Garbrandt’s favor after hearing about his UFC 292 withdrawal.
Unfortunately for the former UFC Bantamweight champion, Garbrandt, it was revealed this past weekend (Aug. 12, 2023) that an injury forced him out of his upcoming clash against Mario Bautista. Da’Mon Blackshear has since filled in to take Garbrandt’s spot on the main card in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend (Sat., Aug. 19, 2023).
Garbrandt and O’Malley have never been matched up with each other but they almost came to blows in late 2021 when both scheduled to compete on UFC 269. The pre-fight press conference saw each trade verbal jabs before finding themselves restrained by security as things heated up. O’Malley went on to finish Raulian Paiva with strikes while Garbrandt was knocked out by Kai Kara-France.
“Some people aren’t built for this,” O’Malley said on his TimboSugarShow podcast. “Remember when he said that against me? I was just like, ’That was mean, man. That was mean.’ You get injured, injuries happen. I got injured during a fight then he said some people aren’t built for this. He got injured before the fight. Which, you know what, hopefully, it’s nothing serious because that sucks. Mario would have put him on his butt. It would have been fun. Press conference would have been fun.
“I did KO him at the [first] presser,” he concluded. “Maybe he’s like, ‘I just can’t make it.’ It probably worked out best for Cody.”
O’Malley will look to join Garbrandt on the list of men to have held UFC Bantamweight gold at UFC 292 when he looks to dethrone Aljamain Sterling in the main event. A win for “Sugar” would keep him unbeaten in his six straight bouts.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 292 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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