"He's developed where he can survive on the mat"– Teddy Atlas explains how Sean O'Malley's ground game is similar to Israel Adesanya's
Sean O'Malley picked up a controversial victory via split decision over Petr Yan at UFC 280. Long-time boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas shared that O'Malley's ground game reminded him of UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
UFC280 Official Scorecard: Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA)
All Scorecards: ufc.ac/3CWSM8t
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Speaking on his podcast, THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas, the host compared the two fighters' ground game:
"What O'Malley also reminded me of was... champion Adesanya. Adesanya's strength is striking too, not so much on the floor, but he's developed where he can survive on the mat, where he has escapability, where he escapes takedowns, where he's like a quarterback who gets out of the pocket."
Atlas added:
"I saw some of that with O'Malley where he was able to survive when he got taken down and was able to escape a couple takedowns. Not all of them, but I saw some of that similar to what Adesanya has. To his credit, he knows he has to develop in those areas because you're fighting [multi-]dimensional guys here, you're not gonna always have your way."
Atlas shared that learning how to handle the style of other fighters is essential to becoming the best. He did add that he felt Yan won the fight, while noting that O'Malley still performed well.
Watch Teddy Atlas compare Sean O'Malley's ground game to Israel Adesanya's below (starting at the 39:21 mark):
Sean O'Malley's controversial victory leads Joe Rogan to question the value of takedowns
There was plenty of outrage following Sean O'Malley's controversial UFC 280 split-decision victory over Petr Yan. While O'Malley had a good fight, many felt that Yan did enough to win.
Mixed martial arts commentator Joe Rogan was among those who felt that the official decision was wrong. That lead him to question the value of takedowns and ground control - precisely the aspects in which Yan outclassed O'Malley in the co-main event of UFC 280.
During the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the podcast host stated:
"The takedowns without damage, what is that value? I'm not denying that I thought Petr Yan won because I did think he won, but takedowns without damage versus stand-up with damage because Sugar landed more strikes standing... The question is, how valuable are those takedowns and how valuable is that top game and control?"
Rogan's questions raise legitimate concerns regarding the value of takedowns and ground control. While O'Malley landed more significant strikes, Yan took him down six times and had nearly six minutes of total ground control.
Watch Joe Rogan question the value of takedowns following Sean O'Malley's controversial UFC 280 victory over Petr Yan below (starting at the 1:21 mark):