"Still a finish" - Sean O'Malley claims a "nice right hand" hurt Pedro Munhoz's eye at UFC 276 PPV-opener
Sean O'Malley vs. Pedro Munhoz was waved off halfway through the second round and declared a No Contest due to an accidental eyepoke from O'Malley. However, 'Sugar' is now claiming it was a fair punch that damaged Munhoz's eye.
In a new Instagram post, O'Malley expressed disappointment in how the fight was stopped but still claimed it was a finish. He wrote:
"Not the finish I wanted but still a finish. A nice right hand hurt his eye. Checked a lot of his leg kicks and did a lot more damage. He landed 0 head strikes 0 body strikes. Looking into the crowd seeing all the SUGA Merch was truly amazing."
Sean O'Malley had made some other social media statements immediately following the fight like "First man to finish Pedro," and "BREAKING NEWS!!! SUGA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION OFFICIALLY RULES PEDRO VS SUGA A FAT F***IN DUB FOR SUGA."
While those had more of a joking tone, O'Malley is very serious about the finish coming via a legal right hand. On Twitter he shared a fan's YouTube breakdown of the fight that does seem to show an O'Malley punch causing the serious damage to Munhoz's left eye. He wrote:
"IT WAS A PUNCH THAT HURT PEDROS EYE TKO DR STOPPAGE 16-0 thanks fam love you guys."
youtu.be/zSh-IuUlEGE IT WAS A PUNCH THAT HURT PEDROS EYE TKO DR STOPPAGE 16-0 thanks fam love you guys❤️
There's a lot of confusion due to Munhoz taking damage to both eyes. Initially, O'Malley catches 'The Young Punisher' with a right hand to Munhoz's left eye, the one which is now swollen shut. Later, in the fight ending interaction, O'Malley puts his hand out and pokes Munhoz's right eye. It was after this eye poke that Munhoz declared he couldn't see and the fight was waved off.
If O'Malley is correct and it was a legal punch to Munhoz's left eye that blinded the fighter, he may have a case to bring to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. For now he's presenting the theory to the public in typical brash Sean O'Malley fashion.
Why does Sean O'Malley claim his record is 16-0?
In his tweet about the Pedro Munhoz fight, Sean O'Malley declares himself 16-0 even though his record is really 15-1-1. This isn't the first time he's decided to spin his record to ignore official decisions that didn't go his way.
Following his TKO defeat to Marlon 'Chito' Vera in 2020, O'Malley insisted he was still 12-0 instead of 12-1. At the time, 'Sugar' said:
“The way I lost that last fight, it wasn’t because he was a better fighter, [or] he was more skilled ... He didn’t take me down. My leg completely gave out, and I landed on my back. It happened like that, it is what it is, but it doesn’t affect me at all going into this fight. In my mind, [I’m] 12-0 coming off the Eddie [Wineland] fight, and I’m in a good spot. I’m mentally in a really good spot. I feel good.”
Now Sean O'Malley has two personalized modifications that make his record add up to 16-0: he's completely erased the Marlon Vera fight, and he's turned the No Contest with Pedro Munhoz into a win.