"He didn't cut that much weight" - Sean O'Malley reveals why Kris Moutinho was able to sustain a huge amount of damage during their UFC 264 fight
Sean O’Malley has revealed why Kris Moutinho was able to sustain a huge amount of damage during their UFC 264 fight. O’Malley believes that Moutinho probably didn’t cut much weight for the fight.
O’Malley has suggested that this meant Moutinho didn’t drain his brain's energy by cutting too much weight. ‘Suga’ added that this is why Moutinho was able to withstand powerful strikes in their UFC 264 fight.
In episode 21 of The BrO’Malley Show on Sean O’Malley’s YouTube channel, O’Malley and his brother Daniel O’Malley opened up on multiple topics.
In regards to Kris Moutinho constantly pressing forward no matter how many times he was hit, Sean O’Malley said:
“Dude, I think because he’s not a huge guy; I think he didn’t cut that much weight to where he was able to take more of those shots. Like, Eddie (Wineland) and Thomas (Almeida) might have cut more weight. They’re bigger guys. But maybe not… He didn’t seem big, like, he seemed smaller than Almeida for sure. I don’t think he drained his brain energy that much. So, you take a couple of those shots.
“And some people are that stupid. They just take shots. Some people just take f**king shots. Cardio was good too… I know. People were like, ‘You’re f**ked. You got tired’. It’s like, dude, I broke records, man,” said Sean O'Malley.
Sean O’Malley reveals what affected his performance at UFC 264
Sean O’Malley was initially scheduled to face Louis Smolka at UFC 264. The rising bantamweight star had been preparing for Smolka, who generally fights from the orthodox stance. Nevertheless, Smolka withdrew from the fight due to a staph infection.
The UFC subsequently roped in Kris Moutinho to face Sean O’Malley at UFC 264. Moutinho fights primarily from a southpaw stance. O’Malley revealed how the change in opponents affected his performance.
“Dude, switching from an orthodox (to a southpaw), like, that (Kris Moutinho) was a tougher fight than Louis Smolka, in my opinion. Like, I think I was gonna knock out Smolka early on. Smolka’s tough though, but switching from an orthodox guy to a full southpaw guy was – and on 10 days, no one’s talking about that – that’s different. I didn’t spar any southpaws at all. Now, I’m fighting a southpaw.”
The UFC 264 fight between Sean O'Malley and Kris Moutinho was waved off by the referee while Moutinho was still on his feet with less than 30 seconds of the fight remaining. Moutinho strongly protested the stoppage. Regardless, the official verdict was a third-round TKO win for Sean O’Malley. The next opponent for 'Suga' following his UFC 264 victory is yet to be determined.