Sean O’Malley recently stated that UFC president Dana White will make an announcement regarding his first title defense in the coming weeks.
‘Sugar’ is riding a wave of confidence following the performance of his career against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 last month. O’Malley knocked ‘Funk Master’ out in Round 2 of their clash, snapping Sterling’s nine-fight win streak in the process.
Sean O’Malley was already one of the promotion’s most popular fighters before winning the title, and his rise has beenĀ likened to that of Conor McGregor’s. O’Malley’s win over Aljamain Sterling will only have done great things for his fanbase, and the bantamweight champion wants to provide them with another highlight-reel KO this year.
‘Sugar’ recently appeared onĀ The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, who asked O’Malley if he would be fighting in December. He replied with the following:
“We’ll see. The sooner the better for me. There’s nothing official right now, I did talk to Dana [White], he said he’s gonna announce something massive in a few weeks. I know there’s a couple of options of who that might be. But he didn’t specifically tell me, ’cause there’s still moving pieces. But he did say he was going to announce something massive in a few weeks.”
Watch the interview below from 13:50:
Sean O’Malley breaks down Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 293
Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland are set to do battle for the middleweight title atĀ UFC 293Ā this weekend. ‘Tarzan’ will be making his first appearance in a UFC title bout, while it will be Adesanya’s first defense of his second reign as champion.
Many expect ‘The Last Stylebender’ to outclass his opponent on the feet, and Adesanya is currently a -350 favorite.
Sean O’Malley recently shared his thoughts on the matchup and pointed to the vast gap in striking skills as a major factor in the fight. ‘Sugar’ also noted Strickland’sĀ KO loss to Alex PereiraĀ at UFC 276 compared to Adesanya’s performances against ‘Poatan’.
During a recent episode of theĀ TimboSugarShowĀ podcast,Ā Sean O’MalleyĀ said:
“[Adesanya] is a sniper, he’s patient, he’s not gonna make too many mistakes. A fight is a fight, obviously you can get caught. But I don’t think Sean hits as hard as Alex Pereira does… [Strickland] is more of a volume puncher, Izzy is not really there to be hit. He’ll stick, move, stick, move. Sean Strickland got knocked out by Pereira in 13 seconds in the first round [the official time was 2:36 in Round 1]… I just don’t see how Izzy doesn’t beat him.”
Watch the video below from 19:30: