Here’s the thing, Garbrandt and O’Malley are slated to fight other people at the event.
The UFC 269 pre-fight press conference went down earlier tonight (Thurs., Dec. 9, 2021) in Las Vegas, Nevada to promote this weekend’s (Sat., Dec. 11) pay-per-view (PPV) event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As usual, all of the main card fighters participated in the the customary staredown festivities including lightweight king Alex Oliveira mean-mugging Dustin Poirier, and Amanda Nunes eying Julianna Pena ahead of their co-headlining bantamweight title fight (see them here).
But the staredowns got started a bit earlier than usual, and it included two fighters who aren’t going to be fighting one another Saturday night.
Cody Garbrandt — who faces Kai Kara France in his flyweight debut — got into a war of words with Sean O’Malley — who faces Raulian Paiva — and things almost got physical between the two. “Suga” asked UFC president Dana White if the two could square up for future reference, and it didn’t take long for “No Love” to get up out of his seat and make his way over to O’Malley.
Thankfully security got in between the two men to prevent another one of these incidents.
Garbrandt and O’Malley have been going at each other for quite some time now, with both men calling for a fight that never saw the light of day. Now that “No Love” is down at 125 pounds, a fight between the two doesn’t seem likely since O’Malley is still competing at 135 pounds.
But the heat between the two isn’t going to die down anytime soon, so depending on what happens in their respective bouts in “Sin City,” UFC might want to go ahead and please both combatants (as well as fans) and book them to fight one another sometime in 2022.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 269 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 269: “Oliveira vs. Poirier” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.