SUMMARY
- Sean O'Malley called out UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria after defending his bantamweight title at UFC 299.
- Umar Nurmagomedov believes O'Malley did that because the fight is a safe bet for his bantamweight title.
Umar Nurmagomedov did not mince his words when it came to predicting the outcome of a fight between Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria. Umar believes Topuria would win the fight without any worries. However, the bantamweight fighter also claimed that O’Malley called out Topuria only because he knew it was a safe bet. If O’Malley goes to fight at featherweight, his bantamweight title will not be at risk.
After O’Malley skillfully defended his title against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 299, he called out UFC Featherweight Champion Topuria. Suga asked Dana White to book him a flight to Spain. O’Malley has continued to talk about that fight and wants it to happen at the Las Vegas Sphere on UFC 306.
However, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin Umar is not too fond of that idea. In an interview with ESPN, he said, “He [O’Malley] talking about Ilia Topuria, you know, for me, it not make sense… And Ilia gonna maybe kill this guy because he too big and, right now, Ilia too dangerous for him.
“He wanna go up, make some money..Even if he lose, he gonna still be champion..”
Umar Nurmagomedov believes Sean O’Malley vs. Ilia Topuria doesn’t make sense!
📹ESPN MMA pic.twitter.com/OvwVP5CDLt
— Sportsmanor (@sports_manor) March 13, 2024
I think because he’s not like same because when you go to up, change weight, okay for O’Malley, he gonna lose nothing. Just, he healthy, that’s why maybe he want to go up, make some money, even if he will lose, he gonna stay, like, he will still be champion at bantamweight, right?”
O’Malley’s strongest contender in the bantamweight division is Merab Dvalishvili. The Georgian fighter was the backup for the title fight at UFC 299. He is the #1 contender and has expressed displeasure at the O’Malley snub. Umar also claimed that Merab deserves the next title fight.
Sean O’Malley believes Umar Nurmagomedov will be a good title fight after he achieves stardom
In his interview with ESPN before UFC 299, Sean O’Malley claimed he wanted to fight stars who could sell fights. Although he did not explicitly mention Merab, he claimed he did not want to fight anyone who cannot sell fights
Further, he talked about how he was not avoiding people from his division. He namechecked Umar and said once he achieves stardom, the Russian fighter can sell fights.
(Watch from 18:00 minutes)
O’Malley said, “People think I’m avoiding tough fights. Umar is probably the toughest fight, and yeah, I’ve been bringing his name up – but it also has to make sense. Umar isn’t a star at all,” O’Malley said. “There’s potential to be a star/superstar. I believe I’m a superstar. I believe ‘Chito’ [Vera] is a star. I believe Umar is a potential superstar, literally because he has the last name Nurmagomedov.”
‘Suga’ also connected it to UFC’s biggest fight. He said Nurmagomedov vs. O’Malley (an Irish name) could ring bells and sell fights. He was referring to Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor.
Umar Nurmagomedov already has a plan on how to beat Sean O’Malley
Umar was asked if he had learned anything after watching Sean O’Malley dominate Vera. The Russian explained how he would approach a fight against O’Malley if and when it takes place. He said, “If you work O’Malley at distance, if you use boxing or kickboxing, Sean will catch you.
That’s what he’s really good at. You can’t fight Sean in the stand-up. If you want to beat O’Malley, you’ve got to get forward, you’ve got to take them down and you’ve got to shorten the distance when you’re punching. Sean has very long arms and legs. Even if he gets you with leg kicks, he’s going to score points. That’s what I realized.”
“Merab gonna wrestle all night, but Merab don’t have control… O’Malley can get up..and try to catch him.. shoot him with knee or punch…maybe he’ll beat him by KO.”
Umar Nurmagomedov speaks on possible future fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
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— Sportsmanor (@sports_manor) March 13, 2024
Merab’s style of fighting is also wrestling and according to Umar’s analogy keeping the fight on the ground will give the Georgian an advantage. However, when asked for a prediction for a fight between Merab and O’Malley, Umar is indecisive and says Merab does not have control so Sean O’Malley might KO him.