Once Sean O’Malley takes care of some business with Merab Dvalishvili, ‘Sugar’ has his sights set on a crossover clash with boxing star Ryan Garcia.
‘King Ryan’ is all the rage after he delivered a lights-out performance against WBC super lightweight world champion Devin Haney in Brooklyn. Since then, a slew of boxers have come out of the woodwork lobbying for a fight with Ryan, including Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Jaron Ennis, Conor Benn, and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz.
You can also add UFC bantamweight world champion Sean O’Malley’s name to the list. Taking to social media, ‘Sugar’ suggested that after his next title defense, which is all but guaranteed to come against streaking Georgian contender Merab Dvalishvili, he plans to box Ryan Garcia.
“After I KO Merab I’m boxing Ryan,” O’Malley wrote on X.
Considering the UFC chose to let Francis Ngannou leave rather than allowing him to box in between fights inside the Octagon, we’d say there is a 0.01% chance that Dana White allows O’Malley to take on one of the best boxers in the world today while they’ve got him under contract.
Aside from having a very tough test in front of him in Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley already has a slew of potential contenders to deal with at 135.
A proposed fight between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov will likely decide the division’s next title contender. You’ve also got Deiveson Figueiredo who has continued to climb his way up the bantamweight ranks after already claiming gold at flyweight.
And then there’s Petr Yan who got back into the win column at UFC 299 with a big win over Song Yadong in the main card opener.
Needless to say, there are plenty of fights to keep O’Malley busy without having to fish for a boxing match with the flavor of the month.
‘Nobody wants to see’ Sean O’Malley vs. Ryan Garcia
UFC fans were none-too interested in the idea of seeing Sean O’Malley step inside the ring with Ryan Garcia based on the backlash ‘Sugar’ received on social media.
