Rising UFC bantamweight star Sean O'Malley has been open about the fact that he preferred a slow build to fighting top competition and stated his reasons why. But now that he’s ranked, he’s making the biggest of leaps for his next fight.
“I’m so excited for this,” O’Malley said on the ESPN show “DC & RC” with Daniel Cormier and Ryan Clark. “I almost can’t even believe it’s real, it’s happening.”
It’s real all right, and he better be ready after news broke Wednesday that O’Malley, who’s No. 13 in the official UFC rankings, will take on former champion and current No. 1 contender Petr Yan on Oct. 22 at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.
“He’s obviously the No. 1 contender right now,” O’Malley said. “He’s pretty much 1-1 against (Aljamain Sterling). He whooped Aljo the first fight, then he got kind of whooped up in the second fight. But he could be considered the champion – the whole top 5, really. The way Petr beat Jose Aldo was one of my favorite performances of Petr Yan, so going in there and stepping up against a guy like Petr is exciting, it’s motivating, and it’s the biggest fight in the bantamweight division right now. I think it’s bigger than Aljo vs. T.J. (Dillashaw).”
That might be so, but it’s also being touted as a mismatch across social media. To further illustrate the gap in level, O’Malley (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is unranked at 135 pounds by USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie, which ranks fighters from all promotions; Yan (16-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC), meanwhile, is No. 2 behind only UFC champ Aljamain Sterling.
O’Malley, 27, is on a three-fight winning streak, but his most recent first bout against a ranked Pedro Munhoz was underwhelming for as long as it lasted, with an accidental eye-poke to Munhoz forcing a no-contest after one round. On the scorecards, two of three judges gave the first to Munhoz.
Battle tested or not, O’Malley is confident he’ll be able to come out on top at UFC 280.
“I’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” O’Malley said. “I’ve felt like I was capable to fight these guys for a long time; it’s just I never got an opportunity. Pedro was the first guy in the top 10 I got an opportunity to fight. In my eyes, I feel like I won that fight, dominated, didn’t get hit once in the face or the body. So it’s perfect. I’m just so excited to get out there. It’s the first time I’m going to be an underdog. I’m assuming I’ll be an underdog (he’s a 3-to-1 underdog), which is super cool.
“So I think it’s going to be a super interesting fight. He says he’s a master of boxing. I like to think of myself as a very, very high-level striker.”
He continued, “It’s the best dude I’ve ever fought, hands down, and I’m very excited for the opportunity. And I just believe I’m going to be better October 22nd than Petr.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 280.