Recently crowned UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O'Malley has expressed his desire to have his inaugural title defense against Marlon Vera.
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Recently crowned as the UFC’s bantamweight champion, “Sugar” Sean O’Malley has expressed his desire to have his inaugural title defense against Marlon “Chito” Vera. O’Malley strongly disputes his prior loss to Vera and aims to conclusively settle the controversy surrounding their previous encounter.
O’Malley featured on the September 5th installment of “Believe You Me” alongside Michael Bisping, addressing his upcoming opponent. Nonetheless, before delving into the topic of “Chito,” O’Malley promptly ruled out Merab Dvalishvili as his next contender.
“[If it’s just like] who’s the next guy in line by ranking, yeah, it’s Merab [Dvalishvili]. I’m the champ, I want [the Chito fight], let’s see what happens.
“…I know what I want, I want the biggest fights. I wanna make a lot of money and I wanna do pay-per-views. So that kind of carries on to what I want next.”
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O’Malley proceeded to elaborate on his reasons for seeking a rematch with Vera, clarifying that his choice isn’t solely based on Vera being the most prominent name. He acknowledged that while Vera may have more recognition than Merab or Cory Sandhagen, it’s not primarily about drawing power.
“Let’s make sure everyone knows I’m not going [after] Chito because he’s the biggest name, because he doesn’t carry much of a draw – no offense – he might be a bigger name than Merab or Cory [Sandhagen]. If you wanna look at someone [for how to] not emulate your career or sell a fight or anything, follow Cory he will do a great job at that. The only reason a Chito fight is such a big deal is just because of that controversial fight. So that’s why that fight’s big.”
Fans have been speculating about a potential future clash between O’Malley and featherweight contender Ilia Topuria. Following O’Malley’s championship win, the pair engaged in a Twitter exchange. Topuria encouraged O’Malley to continue climbing the ranks with the hope of eventually facing off inside the octagon. O’Malley responded by stating, “I have risen. Your turn to rise up.”
Their brief exchange came to an end when O’Malley advised Topuria to overcome Alexander Volkanovski. In response, Topuria retorted, suggesting that O’Malley should defeat Dvalishvili and wait patiently. However, during his August 31 podcast on YouTube, O’Malley addressed the situation, humorously noting, “It’s funny Ilia thinks he’s in the position to decide.”
O’Malley has a multitude of immediate choices on the horizon, including Vera, Sterling, Dvalishvili, and Sandhagen. It may take a while before a showdown between him and a former featherweight contender materializes.
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