"He'll be the second Khabib" - Ali Abdelaziz talks Umar Nurmagomedov's chances against Sean O'Malley, says 'Sugar' deserves title shot on return
Ali Abdelaziz recently voiced his opinion about Umar Nurmagomedov's chances against Sean O'Malley in a potential fight. Abdelaziz stated that Nurmagomedov will ultimately win the bantamweight title and give O'Malley a title shot because of the American's popularity.
O'Malley put up a poor performance in his bantamweight title defense against Merab Dvalishvili at Noche UFC 306 last weekend. He was dominated by the Georgian's wrestling for the majority of the fight and lost his belt via a unanimous decision.
Nevertheless, Dvalishvili, who has been at odds with Nurmagomedov, ruled out the Dagestani fighter as the next title contender and stated that he would like to defend his title against former two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
In a recent interview with ESPN MMA, Abdelaziz claimed that Nurmagomedov, who is expected to challenge Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title next, will defeat 'The Machine'. According to the Dominance MMA CEO, 'Young Eagle' will then grant O'Malley a title shot because of the latter's superstar status:
''I would like Sean O’Malley to do this; take as much time as he wants off, and I believe Umar will beat Merab, and after, then Umar will give him a title shot coming off a loss. I think Sean O’Malley is one of the biggest stars in the sport, this is a business about making money and I think Sean O’Malley deserves a title shot coming off a loss. Do you know why? Because Sean O’Malley makes everyone in the division money.''
Abdelaziz added:
“Umar has two billion people behind his back – he'll be the second Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. He doesn’t talk much. He needs to trash talk a little bit more like Khabib did, but Umar is special.”
Check out Ali Abdelaziz's comments below (13:38):
Ali Abdelaziz praises Sean O'Malley for making the bantamweight division relevant
In the aforementioned interview with ESPN MMA, Ali Abdelaziz also praised Sean O'Malley for reviving the bantamweight division and claimed that a potential fight with Umar Nurmagomedov would attract a sizable crowd:
''Umar will fight anybody, can be Petr Yan or Figueiredo, but this is about making money. And Sean O’Malley, nobody gave a sh*t about the bantamweight division before. You have to give him credit. I don’t know Sean O’Malley...but the guy brought a lot of hype for the division...This is about hype, about business, about making money.'' [14:54]