"Who's saying he's not ready?" - Dana White explains why the timing for Sean O'Malley to take on Petr Yan is not a problem
Dana White believes Sean O'Malley is ready for his fight against Petr Yan.
'Sugar' will take on the no.1 bantamweight contender at UFC 280. The narrative thus far has questioned whether O'Malley is ready for this level of competition. With that said, Dana White believes the time is now with the American in his prime.
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White recently did an interview with Kevin Iole from Yahoo Sports. The UFC President was asked about O'Malley potentially not being ready for Yan and had this to say:
"There's only one way to find out. Everybody can speculate, everybody can talk s**t, everybody thinks they're a f***ing matchmaker. There's only one way to find out. When you think about it, if you think about O'Malley, O'Malley is 27 years old. O'Malley's been fighting for a long time."
He added:
"This kid is in his prime right now. This is the time. This October, only a couple months away, he'll be 28. So, who's saying he's not ready? We're gonna find out."
The matchmaking has been questioned because O'Malley's recent performance against Pedro Munhoz was not convincing for a no. 1 contender fight. That said, 'Sugar' will have a solid chance because Yan is willing to strike with him. The length and speed could prove to be a tough matchup for the Russian.
Watch Dana White's interview with Kevin Iole below:
Dana White explains how Sean O'Malley vs. Petr Yan materialized
When the news became official, most of the MMA world wondered how the fight materialized, considering the difference between their last two fights. During the same interview, White had this to say about the situation.
"O'Malley's ready. O'Malley wants to take a big jump, and he's ready for the fight. So, we started going through this thing and started looking at who's fighting, who's hurt, who's this, who's that."
He added:
"It was actually Sean [Shelby] said, I wanna do O'Malley vs. Petr Yan. Everybody was giving their opinion, and we went back and forth, and finally, I said f**k it, we'll do it.
O'Malley taking this fight makes sense. If he wins, his marketability will skyrocket, considering his next fight will be for the title. If he loses to Yan, he still earns respect for taking on such a difficult matchup. Only time will tell if 'Sugar' can pull off the upset.
O'Malley 
UFC President @danawhite wasn't sure on making Yan 🆚 O'Malley 👀
God are we glad Sean Shelby was able to change his mind 😍 https://t.co/r7FwxvdIZN