Sean O'Malley theorizes why new UFC champion Ilia Topuria doesn't want to fight him
UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley recently shared his thoughts on the new UFC featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria.
O'Malley previously called out Topuria following the latter's second-round knockout victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. 'Sugar' recently praised the Spaniard for his performance and stated that he would love to face him after the Marlon Vera fight next weekend. During an interview with Ariel Helwani, he said:
"When I think of a scary opponent, what makes me go, 'whoo...' That's Ilia. Ilia gives me that. He can put your f**king lights out and change your life. That's a scary opponent."
In a recent video uploaded on his YouTube channel, O'Malley speculated why the new UFC featherweight champion does not want to fight him:
''I'm a tough fight for him and there's a reason for that. Bro I'm the biggest fight for him but he's like, no I'm not fighting Sean. He should be wanting that unless he knows it's a bad fight for him.''
Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below (7:33):
O'Malley is set to face Marlon Vera for his first bantamweight title defense at UFC 299 on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Sean O’Malley plans on knocking out Merab Dvalishvili
Sean O’Malley stunned the world by securing a second-round TKO against Aljamain Sterling to become the UFC bantamweight champion at UFC 292. After the loss, Sterling moved up to the featherweight division to give his close friend and sparring partner, Merab Dvalishvili, a shot at the 135-pound title.
In a recent video posted on X, O’Malley expressed his desire to knock out Dvalishvili worse than his friend Sterling:
“He is sloppy. I’m accurate, I’m too fast, I’m too sharp. I’m telling you boys, I put Merab’s lights out worse than Aljo. Aljo, a little TKO. Merab, I’m putting him to sleep, turning his nose straight.”
Check out the clip below:
Dvalishvili hasn’t been knocked out in his 21 professional MMA fights. He recently defeated former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo via a unanimous decision at UFC 298 and is the clear-cut next in line for a title shot.