It appears Ilia Topuria is now calling the shots.
UFC bantamweight titleholder Sean O’Malley wants to defeat Ilia Topuria (not Alexander Volkanovski) and join the promotion’s coveted “champ champ” club.
That would require “Suga” to defeat Marlon Vera when they rematch atop the UFC 299 pay-per-view (PPV) in March. In addition, Topuria still has to dethrone featherweight kingpin Alex Volkanovski when they collide in the UFC 298 headliner next month in Anaheim.
Unfortunately, the UFC 292 PPV flop leaves no room for O’Malley on any of “El Matador’s” upcoming fight cards, unless “Suga” agrees to compete on the ESPN “Prelims.”
“I offered to fight you but the UFC told me that you are only good for fighting in teenagers’ places, because that’s your only fan base,” Topuria wrote on Twitter. “Our fight will never happen. After fighting Volk I will fight Conor [McGregor] and you will come as a fan boy. After seeing your PPV numbers the only thing I can offer you is that you fight in the preliminaries of my card.”
Topuria (14-0) is currently ranked No. 5 at 145 pounds and punched his ticket to a featherweight title shot by boxing up Josh Emmett at UFC Jacksonville last June.
The pursuit of UFC titles in two separate weight classes is no longer the flex it used to be, according to some disgruntled fighters. Whether or not O’Malley will be permitted to compete against Topuria may depend on how quickly they clean out their respective divisions.
Assuming they’re both champions by the time UFC 298 and UFC 299 have wrapped.