“Your wish is granted” - Sean O'Malley seemingly reveals opponent name for next title fight on YouTube
It appears as though Sean O'Malley has decided who he wants to defend his title against next as he recently revealed the name of his next opponent.
'Sugar' successfully retained his bantamweight championship for the first time with a dominant unanimous decision win over Marlon 'Chito' Vera at UFC 299. During his post-fight interview, the reigning bantamweight champion expressed his interest in moving up to 145 pounds to fight Ilia Topuria, but it appears as though he now has another opponent in mind.
During a recent episode of his TimboSugarShow podcast, O'Malley turned his attention to top-ranked bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili. He noted that there is a perception that he is ducking 'The Machine' and mentioned that he is now excited about fighting him because of all the areas he believes he can exploit. He said:
"Merab's [Dvalishvili] next. Merab is fu**ing next. Your wish is granted. A lot of people said I'm ducking him. I just really am not ducking that little dude. I like the fight for me, there's multiple ways to win, I'm excited about the fight now, finally...The time will come to where it's the right time to fight certain people. Merab's next and be careful what you wish for, buddy."
It will be interesting to see how soon the UFC plans to book O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili as they both competed within one month of each other and didn't take a significant amount of damage.
Sean O'Malley weighs in on Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway
Sean O'Malley recently weighed in on the upcoming 'BMF' title clash between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway at UFC 300. He noted that it could be a close fight despite the former featherweight champion moving up to 155 pounds.
Holloway will be making another attempt at lightweight in his quest for the 'BMF' title as his last attempt saw him lose a unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight championship. During the aforementioned episode, 'Sugar' mentioned that he believes the fight will be a competitive one. He said:
"He's [Max Holloway] got a big build, he's a good size [1]55er. Massive [1]45er, good size 55er. So, I think that's gonna be a very, very competitive fight...But anyway, Max [Holloway] vs. [Justin] Gaethje, yeah, incredible fight...What does it do for Gaethje if he wins?...He's [Alex Pereira] getting pay-per-view [points], [Zhang] Weili will get pay-per-view [points], I doubt they're [UFC] gonna give out a third pay-per-view points." [33:39 - 34:40]
Check out Sean O'Malley's full podcast episode below: