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Get the scoop on the televised prelims of UFC 248, highlighted by the long-awaited return of Sean O’Malley looking to dispose of Jose Quinones.
At UFC 248, the Sugar Show returns! It’s been two years since Sean O’Malley last fought and the UFC has been chomping at the bit to get the youngster back in the cage. It isn’t difficult to understand why. The 25-year old is full of talent, enough to take him to the top of the bantamweight division. Some would argue that could be said of many prospects who never break through. I’ll acknowledge that, but O’Malley also has charisma that’s easy to market, that extra intangible that the likes of Raphael Assuncao never had to push them over the hump. Now, O’Malley returns at UFC 248 and we’ll all get a taste of sugar.
The ESPN prelims begin at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT on Saturday.
Sean O’Malley (10-0) vs. Jose Quinones (8-3), Bantamweight
The reason for O’Malley’s long absence was a USADA situation not unlike that of Jon Jones. He tested positive for ostarine prior to UFC 229, resulting in a six-month suspension. After serving his time, he again tested positive for ostarine, though it appeared likely the second failure was residual from the first. USADA recently made changes to their testing protocol and the youngster is good to go without fear of continued ostarine failures… provided the levels don’t rise.
I want to be fair to O’Malley’s detractors, as I feel they aren’t completely ignorant of the situation. Yes, the UFC has attached the hype train too soon to youngsters who flash charisma/looks in addition to physical talent. Sage Northcutt and Paige Van Zant are the obvious targets. The UFC could very well be doing the same thing with O’Malley. However, the UFC doesn’t like being caught with its pants down when it comes to hyping youngsters with obvious star potential, which O’Malley does have. The organization would rather risk being wrong than potentially miss out on a cash cow. They also hitched their wagons to Conor McGregor early in his UFC career and look how much that worked out for them financially….
With that out of the way, the UFC does appear to have learned some lessons from the likes of Northcutt and Van Zant as they aren’t exactly throwing O’Malley into the deep end of the pool… at least not yet. Quinones, though posting a respectable 5-2 record in the UFC, hasn’t exactly been facing stellar competition. His best win would be… Teruto Ishihara? Yeah, you get the idea. Still, O’Malley can’t sleep on the product of Mexico as his boxing has progressed a lot since he first entered the organization six years ago. Quinones has sneaky power to hurt O’Malley should the kid get overconfident. Plus, Quinones is a big bantamweight. Sure, he’s not as tall as O’Malley, but he’s thicker and has learned how to use that size to maintain top control.
O’Malley is potentially his own worst enemy in a contest like this. The kid is confident enough in his skills to the level that it borders on overconfidence, though it isn’t hard to see why. Undoubtedly, he’s the more talented fighter. He’s freakishly long for 135. He does an excellent job of mixing up his strikes. His creativity helps in that area too. He pushes an insane pace, showing minimal signs of fatigue. While there are still many questions to be answered about his grappling, he did hold off Andre Soukhamthath despite a debilitating leg injury. O’Malley has all the tools. While I’m sure he’ll stumble before getting to the top, I don’t see it happening here. O’Malley via decision
- It’s hard to know what the UFC plans to do with Mark Madsen. An Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, he’s blasted through his competition thus far, though that competition has been largely underwhelming thus far. However, the biggest reason for uncertainty is that he’s already 35-years old. Is he worth the time investment if it’s reasonable to assume his physical prime has already passed? Given the reception he received in his homeland of Denmark, the smart money says yes, especially when age is less important than the miles on the body. For example, Randy Couture began his MMA career at 33. He gets a step up in competition in Austin Hubbard, a technically sound lightweight who has proven difficult to put away. Hubbard has a big advantage in the standup department, owning a more diverse arsenal. Plus, he’s a cardio machine and an underrated grappler. The question is whether he can deal with Madsen’s physicality. Madsen may be somewhat unrefined, but he is a physical beast. He should be able to overwhelm a game Hubbard. Madsen via decision
- Casual fans have no clue or he is, nor will throw any money at him based on his appearance. However, those who follow the sport closely have been developing an appreciation for Saparbeg Safarov. The Russian may be the most unathletic looking member of the roster. He wades forward winging hard shots and will do whatever it takes to win… including blatantly cheat. Basically, he’ll give anyone a fight, but there is a lot of truth to his less than intimidating appearance. Perhaps he’ll find more success fighting smaller men at middleweight, but it can’t be denied that Rodolfo Vieira is the superior athlete… by far. It isn’t just in the physical skills that Vieira has Safarov beat. Vieira also happens to be one of the most accomplished BJJ practitioners in the world. Vieira doesn’t offer much of a threat on the feet – low kicks are about the only thing he does well – but he’s aware of his limitations and doesn’t waste much time making his effort to get the fight to the mat. It should result in an early finish for the Brazilian. Vieira via submission of RD1
- Upon his UFC debut, Deron Winn set about making a point that at 5’5” he’s not too short to be winning slugfests at middleweight. He was successful in that endeavor, but many seemed to forget it was Eric Spicely he was facing as he didn’t find nearly as much success against Darren Stewart. Winn, a JC national champion and an All-American in wrestling, did get Stewart down plenty, but he also exhausted himself in the process, gassing around the midpoint of the contest. If he expends all his energy early against Gerald Meerschaert, the durable collegiate wrestler could find himself finished for the first time in his career. Meerschaert isn’t much of an athlete, but he’s as savvy as they come with a deep bag of tricks that typically catches inexperienced opponents in compromising positions. Winn is physically stronger and more athletic, but he’s not going to outslick Meerschaert in any way. He could play it safe and use mat control to eek out a boring decision, but I’d expect Meerschaert to catch his neck or an arm. Meerschaert via submission of RD2