‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley will reportedly be going head to head against the 15th ranked bantamweight Raulian Paiva at UFC 269.
O’Malley had his eyes on Dominick Cruz earlier this week by tweeting “Suga vs Cruz December 11th”. Cruz found himself matched up with Pedro Munhoz at UFC 269, leaving O’Malley without a fight. That was until later last night. O’Malley was taken aback and surprised when the news broke about his upcoming fight with Paiva.
While on twitch, O’Malley found out he was scheduled to fight and wasn’t even brought up to him prior to the announcement. “Twitch Stream, I’m just seeing all this shit too. I haven’t even talked to anybody, I have no clue what they’re even talking about.” O’Malley said to his viewers that were talking about the fight announcement.
The rising star ended up getting a phone call while still streaming and accepted the fight live. O’Malley’s last fight was against Kris Moutinho at UFC 264. O’Malley landed a record-breaking amount of head strikes against Moutinho while on his way to earning himself a TKO victory late in the third round. O’Malley is 14-1, but he still proclaims himself an undefeated fighter since his one loss came via an injury mid-fight.
On the other side of the fight, Paiva has earned himself a three-fight win streak which included an upset majority decision over Kyler Phillips. That match earned both fighters a bonus for the barnburner they had. This fight is a big fight for O’Malley’s career and a win could possibly place him in the top 15 rankings. A win over Paiva could be the fight O’Malley needs to earn himself a fight against Cruz in the near future.
O’Malley is one of the many bright stars in the bantamweight division and has some of the best striking in the division. It will be fun to see the return of the ‘Suga Show’ this December at UFC 269.
Are you excited to see ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley back in the octagon?