Sean O’Malley wants Ilia Topuria next.
On Saturday night (March 9), ‘Sugar’ returned to the Octagon at UFC 299, putting his bantamweight title on the line for the first time against the only man to have handed him a loss in his mixed martial arts career, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
Through five rounds, O’Malley dominated the action, putting his world-class boxing skills on display and retaining his gold with a decisive unanimous decision. Speaking with Joe Rogan immediately following the fight, O’Malley made it clear that the next man on his hit list is none other than the promotion’s new featherweight king, Ilia Topuria.
“Dana, get me a jet to Spain, baby! I’m coming for Ilia Topuria,” O’Malley said. “He’s a scary f*cking dude. That excites me. Going up a weight class excites me, but honestly, I’m here for whatever. If you guys want me to knock out Merab [Dvalishvili] I’ll do that too, but Ilia is the most exciting fight for the people.”
Last month, Ilia Topuria scored a shocking second-round knockout of P4P great Alexander Volkanovski to claim his first UFC title.
Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria have plenty of options in their own divisions
With both Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria staring down a backlog of viable contenders in their divisions, it’s hard to imagine that the UFC would book a fight between the two titleholders at such an early point in their individual runs. Particularly when it comes to the bantamweight division and its top-ranked contender, Merab Dvalishvili.
The Machine’ has won his last 10 fights in a row, including a win over former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298, and is the clear-cut next man in line for a shot at the belt.
As for Topuria, ‘El Matador’ has a few different options for his first defense of the 145-pound crown — chief among them being a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski.
Depending on how things play out at UFC 300 next month, Max Holloway could find himself at the front of the line. And then of course there is Brian Ortega, who is fresh in the minds of fight fans after his memorable performance against Yair Rodriguez just a few short weeks ago.