Tag: Sean O’Malley

Sean O’Malley Explains Why He’s On The UFC 269 PPV & Dominick Cruz Is On The Prelims

Sean O'MalleySean O’Malley is reveling in the fact he will feature in the pay-per-view portion of UFC 269 while former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will compete on the prelims. ‘Suga’ will open this Saturday’s UFC 269 main card when he takes on #15 ranked bantamweight Raulian Paiva. Earlier in the evening Pedro Munhoz and Dominick Cruz […]

Sean O'Malley

Sean O’Malley is reveling in the fact he will feature in the pay-per-view portion of UFC 269 while former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will compete on the prelims.

‘Suga’ will open this Saturday’s UFC 269 main card when he takes on #15 ranked bantamweight Raulian Paiva. Earlier in the evening Pedro Munhoz and Dominick Cruz will square off on the ESPN+ preliminary card, despite the fact they are both higher ranked at 135lbs.

O’Malley finds the fact he is ahead of Cruz quite amusing, especially after the bantamweight legend refused a fight with him.

“I let a little giggle out it just because I remember Dominick Cruz saying something, trying to teach young fighters how to promote, just something like that, how to do something,” O’Malley said on The MMA Hour. “It’s Dominick Cruz, the dude’s a legend, I can’t sit here and disrespect him, but he’s on the prelims. The UFC stacks the card in a specific way for a reason, you know what I mean?

“If they thought Dominick Cruz and Pedro Munhoz could sell more pay-per-views than me, they’d put him on the main card. I think it’s just the UFC’s a business and they understand what they’re doing, so they’re there because they’re there.”

Sean O’Malley On Why He’s So Popular.

The 27-year-old has become one of the most recognizable people in MMA despite never picking up a win over a ranked opponent. O’Malley believes it is his fighting style rather than anything else that has allowed him to stand out from the crowd.

“I think it’s my performances, I really do,” O’Malley said. “All the talk, all the hair, all the whatever, the face tats, all of those things are just additives, I think. My performances, you just want to watch me fight. I move different than people, I think that that’s what it really is.

“But I could be wrong. It could be my beautiful smile.”

Do you think Sean O’Malley deserves his spot on the UFC 269 main card?

Sean O’Malley Names Himself, Israel Adesanya, Petr Yan As The Best Strikers In The UFC

Sean O'MalleyUFC bantamweight contender, Sean O’Malley is slated to make his third Octagon walk of the year later this month as part of the UFC 269 card — and has inserted himself into the conversation as the best striker in the UFC, alongside reigning middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya, and interim bantamweight titleholder, Petr Yan. Returning to […]

Sean O'Malley

UFC bantamweight contender, Sean O’Malley is slated to make his third Octagon walk of the year later this month as part of the UFC 269 card — and has inserted himself into the conversation as the best striker in the UFC, alongside reigning middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya, and interim bantamweight titleholder, Petr Yan.

Returning to the winner’s enclosure back in March at UFC 260 following his first career loss to Marlon Vera in August of last year, O’Malley turned in a one-sided striking display en route to a third round, highlight-reel ground strike knockout win over Thomas Almeida. 

In July as part of the high-profile UFC 264 card, O’Malley secured his second straight win of the year, stopping promotional newcomer, Kris Moutinho with an eventual third round knockout after setting multiple striking records for the division.

Off the back of the victory, O’Malley, who is yet to re-enter the bantamweight top-15, has drawn talented Brazilian contender, Raulian Paiva — who is undefeated in his last three straight Octagon walks. 

Sean O’Malley believes he, Israel Adesanya, and Petr Yan are the current best strikers in the UFC

Attempting to earn his fifteen professional victory against the 26-year-old in 10 days’ time, O’Malley recently spoke with The Schmo where he listed the aforenoted, Adesanya and Yan as the best strikers in the UFC alongside himself right now.

“Starting five? You gotta go with Izzy (Israel Adesanya),” Sean O’Malley replied. “You have to go with Izzy right now. Petr (Yan) — just ’cause I think he’s funny. I think Petr’s a funny, little Russian dude I really do. Me, Petr, Izzy — we’re just talking strikers here, yeah?“

“I should really watch the UFC more, I’m coming to a blank right now,” Sean O’Malley said. “Kyler — my buddy, Kyler, my buddy, Mario — gotta go with the buddies, you know what I’m saying. They’re my main training partners. There we go.“

With a combined 32 separate knockout wins between the trio of O’Malley, Adesanya, and Yan — the three most certainly represent three of the most technical strikers on the promotion’s books at the time of publication.

Adesanya is still yet to solidify his middleweight title rematch with former titleholder, Robert Whittaker, however, the pair are expected to headline a UFC 271 event in February.

As for Yan, the Dudinka striking ace clinched the interim bantamweight crown at UFC 267 in October, taking home a unanimous decision win over Cory Sandhagen to set up a title unification re-run with arch-rival, Aljamain Sterling next year. 

Sean O’Malley Reveals His Goal Before Becoming Top 10 In The UFC

Sean O’Malley has already been selective about the way he wants to advance through the UFC rankings, but now he has an interesting goal.

“Suga” Sean O’Malley burst onto the UFC with a unique personality, and impressive wins, leading to him being on…

Sean O'Malley

Sean O’Malley has already been selective about the way he wants to advance through the UFC rankings, but now he has an interesting goal.

“Suga” Sean O’Malley burst onto the UFC with a unique personality, and impressive wins, leading to him being one of the most well-known prospects in the sport. Despite this, he has not really faced much in the way of ranked competition and has even gone on record to say that he is not interested in fighting ranked opponents until he makes more money.

Eventually, though, all of that will change as he starts to face higher and higher competition, starting with his next fight against Raulian Paiva at UFC 269. That said, he has an interesting goal that he wishes to accomplish before he reaches the top ten of the bantamweight division, as he pointed out with a post on his Twitter.

“My goal is to have more fights than Chito before I get into the top 10. 18 and counting,” O’Malley wrote.

Obviously, this is in reference to Marlon “Chito” Vera, who is the only man to hold a win over Sean O’Malley and has gone on to be ranked number 11th in the division. In the time their bout that saw Vera get the TKO win after hurting his opponent with kicks to the leg, the two have gone back and forth at each other, with “Suga” Sean routinely dismissing the loss.

At the time of writing, Vera has a total of 26 pro fights, sitting at a record of 18-7-1. This means that O’Malley (14-1) would have to fight 12 more times before getting into the top ten if his statement on Twitter is to be believed.

What do you make of this proclamation from Sean O’Malley? Do you think he is being serious, or is he simply trolling Marlon Vera?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Reveals His Goal Before Becoming Top 10 In The UFC at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley Gives His Picks For The Two Best Boxers In MMA

UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley thinks that Max Holloway and Petr Yan top the list of the best MMA boxers in the UFC today.

O’Malley knows a thing or two about boxing, as his entire UFC skillset and style in the Octagon is often based on the ‘s…

Sean O'Malley

UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley thinks that Max Holloway and Petr Yan top the list of the best MMA boxers in the UFC today.

O’Malley knows a thing or two about boxing, as his entire UFC skillset and style in the Octagon is often based on the ‘sweet science.’ In his most recent win over Kris Moutinho, O’Malley outpointed Moutinho from start to finish to earn arguably one of the most dominant wins in recent UFC history.

The conversation and debate around the UFC community surrounding who is the best boxer in the promotion has heated up in recent months. It all started when Holloway claimed during his fight with Calvin Kattar that he deserves the top spot, and O’Malley also gives him the nod.

“Now, Petr (Yan) is probably up there for sure. Max (Holloway) is up there,” O’Malley said during a recent podcast episode. “Petr doesn’t get hit as much. If you’re saying like, ‘What’s the best boxer?’ I’d say Floyd Mayweather; he hits and doesn’t get hit. So, I think that’s part of his (Yan’s); hit and not getting hit. As far as just throwing hands and combos and cardio, yeah, Max is up there.”

O’Malley was then asked about Holloway’s ability to get hit and not fall apart.

“Oh, yeah. He’s a tough m****f***er. You’re gonna get hit. And when you throw that many punches, like, that’s that many more opportunities to get countered. It just goes with the style; you’re gonna throw that many, you’ll probably get hit.”

O’Malley will look to continue his rise up the UFC bantamweight division against Raulian Paiva at UFC 269. He’s earned back-to-back knockout wins over Moutinho and Thomas Almeida.

O’Malley rose to prominence after a viral knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017. He quickly earned the attention of UFC president Dana White and was quickly signed to the roster.

Holloway most recently defeated Yair Rodriguez in a Fight of the Year candidate at UFC Vegas 42, and Yan is set to face Aljamain Sterling in a title rematch in 2022.

Do you agree with Sean O’Malley?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Gives His Picks For The Two Best Boxers In MMA at MMA News.

Adrian Yanez Responds To Sean O’Malley’s Callout With Some Criticism

Rising UFC bantamweight prospect Adrian Yanez is open to a fight with Sean O’Malley but isn’t a fan of his alleged lack of competition.

Yanez earned another big win over Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 43 and also earned Fight of the Night honors. He blit…

Adrian Yanez

Rising UFC bantamweight prospect Adrian Yanez is open to a fight with Sean O’Malley but isn’t a fan of his alleged lack of competition.

Yanez earned another big win over Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 43 and also earned Fight of the Night honors. He blitzed Grant with his signature boxing to earn the split decision win, although many felt Yanez won the fight with relative ease.

This attracted the attention of O’Malley, who is another bantamweight prospect that fans are excited about. O’Malley hinted at a possible fight in March against Yanez.

During his UFC Vegas 43 post-fight press conference, Yanez welcomed an opportunity to fight O’Malley but isn’t a fan of the level of opponents he’s faced.

“I would fight Sean O’Malley,” Yanez said. “He says he wants to try to get a ranked opponent and all that stuff but yeah, he’s dodging all these other ranked opponents. Let’s dive into that one right quick. So, Sean O’Malley says, ‘Okay, let me go out there and let me fight a top-ranked opponent.’ but then he gets Thomas Almeida, who is on the shelf for a couple of years.”

“But also, I’d be down to fight him. I don’t care.”

Adrian Yanez, Sean O’Malley Are Promising UFC Prospects

Yanez entered UFC Vegas 43 with a seven-fight winning streak and remains undefeated in his young UFC career. He got a shot in the UFC after an impressive knockout against Brady Huang on Dana White’s Contender Series.

O’Malley is already scheduled to face Raulian Paiva at the upcoming UFC 269 pay-per-view. He’s coming off of his dominant win over Kris Moutinho at UFC 264.

A fight between Yanez and O’Malley would feature arguably two of the top strikers in the 135-pound division, and would surely entice the UFC fanbase. If O’Malley can get past Paiva, a fight with Yanez next could make sense.

What do you think about a potential Adrian Yanez vs. Sean O’Malley fight?

Continue Reading Adrian Yanez Responds To Sean O’Malley’s Callout With Some Criticism at MMA News.

Sean O’Malley Says He Wants To Fight Adrian Yanez In March

Sean O’Malley has his eyes on UFC bantamweight rising star Adrian Yanez.

Yanez made it eight wins on the trot by defeating Davey Grant via split decision at UFC Vegas 43 on Saturday. The Fight of the Night performance was the first time Yanez has g…

Sean O'Malley Yanez

Sean O’Malley has his eyes on UFC bantamweight rising star Adrian Yanez.

Yanez made it eight wins on the trot by defeating Davey Grant via split decision at UFC Vegas 43 on Saturday. The Fight of the Night performance was the first time Yanez has gone the distance in the UFC, having claimed four KO victories since entering the promotion via Dana White’s Contender Series in August last year.

Adrian Yanez Davey Grant
PHOTO: MMA FIGHTING

And it appears the eyes of many, including one of the bantamweight division’s biggest stars, were on Yanez. Following his victory, Sean O’Malley sent out a cryptic tweet declaring his intention to step into the octagon in March—a prospect that will entail a short turnaround given “Suga” is set to face Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 on December 11.

“March,” tweeted O’Malley.

O’Malley, the self-proclaimed “face of the fight game,” has of course one of the largest social media followings in all of MMA. And among the teeming masses following his every musing on Twitter appears to be Aljamain Sterling.

The bantamweight champ, who was cageside at UFC Vegas 43 and even personally congratulated Yanez, took time out to glance at his phone during proceedings, and fire off a reply to O’Malley.

“Who you Trynna fight, champ?” tweeted Sterling.

When “Suga” sends out a tweet, you can typically expect no more than a few words. And his response to the champ was no different.

“Yanez, champ,” tweeted O’Malley.

Despite looming over the UFC as one of its biggest rising stars, “Suga” is yet to crack the bantamweight division’s top 15. The 27-year-old is 5-1 in the promotion, having most recently defeated Thomas Almeida and Kris Moutinho.

What do you think? Is Sean O’Malley the right matchup for Adrian Yanez?

Continue Reading Sean O’Malley Says He Wants To Fight Adrian Yanez In March at MMA News.