"He took that as an opportunity" - Sean O'Malley analyzes fight sequence from Pedro Munhoz clash at UFC 276
Sean O’Malley has put forth his analysis of a sequence from his UFC 276 fight against Pedro Munhoz. ‘Sugar’ took to his official Instagram account and posted a video clip of the sequence. Alongside the video clip, the 27-year-old also attached a statement regarding the fight. O’Malley’s statement read as follows:
“What I see here is a nice right hand land hard to his eye [he thought it was a poke] I landed a nice hard body kick right after. He took that as an opportunity to clear his eye and recover from the punch and kick. Maybe I’m wrong. Just what it looks like to me.”
O’Malley insinuated that Munhoz feigned being hit with a groin strike during their fight. The video shows two strikes where he landed on Munhoz, one being a right-hand punch to Munhoz’s left eye whereas the other was a right kick to the Brazilian fighter’s groin.
Referee Jason Herzog paused the action after the groin strike and gave Munhoz time to recover. The action resumed thereafter. The fight subsequently ended in an NC (No Contest), due to an eye poke from O’Malley to Munhoz’s right eye that incapacitated the veteran UFC bantamweight.
An unfortunate ending to this one.
@PedroMunhozmma vs. @SugaSeanMMA ends in a no-decision due to an unintentional eye poke.
#UFC276 https://t.co/ESrUXWHtff
O’Malley has consistently maintained that the right hand hurt Munhoz. ‘Sugar’ has also claimed that the kick didn’t hit Munhoz’s groin but was a legal strike that hurt 'The Young Punisher' to the body.
The rising UFC star reiterated the same in his Instagram post. ‘Sugar’ has alleged that Munhoz used a groin strike timeout to recover from his punch to the eye and kick to the body.
Watch the video of the fight sequence in O’Malley’s Instagram post below:
Dan Lambert defends Pedro Munhoz from Sean O’Malley’s accusations after UFC 276
Sean O’Malley has taken multiple jibes at Pedro Munhoz after their UFC 276 fight. ‘Sugar’ has repeatedly accused Munhoz of pretending that he was poked in the right eye. He suggested that Munhoz was actually “looking for a way out” after the punch to the left eye.
Pedro Munhoz, who trains at the world-renowned ATT (American Top Team) gym, responded by posting his medical report on Instagram. The report stated that Munhoz did indeed suffer a corneal abrasion in his right eye.
Furthermore, ATT founder Dan Lambert too came to Munhoz’s defense. In an edition of the Punchin' In podcast, Lambert lauded Munhoz’s toughness and sounded off on O’Malley. Lambert said:
"I think as far as Pedro goes, I think he's the toughest guy to ever walk into our gym... So, anybody questioning that is ridiculous. I thought O'Malley was kind of a d***head the way he handled it."
Watch the podcast episode below: