Sean O’Malley might be ready for the biggest challenge in his MMA career by facing Petr Yann at UFC 280.
With a bout between the 27-year-old prospect and former UFC bantamweight champion Peter Yan — currently No. 2 in MMA Fighting’s global rankings — targeted at UFC 280, O’Malley knows it’s time to make a push for a title shot. has officially arrived. And he is prepared to take advantage of the chance.
“I’m giddy with anticipation. I almost can’t believe it’s happening and that it’s true “O’Malley stated on DC & RC of ESPN.
“He’s clearly the No. 1 candidate right now. He is almost 1:1 against ‘Alja’ [Aljamain Sterling]. In the first fight, Aljo screamed, then in the second fight, he kind of screamed. But he could be considered a champion. The whole top 5, really — the way Petr beat Jose Aldo was one of my favorite performances by Petr Yan. So to go out there and go 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. I.E. [Dillashaw].”
Sources told MMA Fighting on Wednesday that while the bout is not officially finalized, it has been verbally agreed to and the bout was officially announced by the UFC on Thursday.
Sean O’malley Career
Since making his UFC debut in 2017, O’Malley has drawn a lot of attention. During his nine-fight, eight-fight career, “Sugar” has only lost once and has racked up plenty of knockouts against notable opponents like Eddie Wineland, Thomas Almeida, and Raulian Paiva. He was criticised as well, though, for his demanding schedule and scarcity of marquee victories. O’Malley has only faced opponents who are presently ranked among the top 10 bantamweights in the UFC twice; in both of those bouts, he was defeated by Marlon Vera through first-round TKO before battling to defeat against Pedro Munhoz.
The Munhoz fight was O’Malley’s last appearance in the UFC, yet he believes he was ready to face opponents of Yan’s caliber a long time ago.
I’ve spent a lot of time getting ready for this, O’Malley stated. “I thought for a long time that I could fight these guys, but I never had the chance. The first person in the top 10 I had the chance to battle was Pedro. I believe I prevailed in the battle, didn’t take any blows to the face or body, and won. So it’s ideal. I can’t wait to go there. I’m going to be the underdog for the first time. I anticipate being the underdog, which is awesome.
“Therefore, I predict that the fight will be quite fascinating. He claims to be a champion boxer. I like to consider myself to be an extremely, really high level hitter.”
UFC 280 for Sean O’Malley Vs. Petr Yann.
O’Malley really is an underdog. He opened as a 3-1 underdog against the former UFC champion after finishing as the betting favorite in all of his past UFC fights.
But O’Malley doesn’t care. He is more than ready to step up to the title fight.
“I believe I’m better than Petr at what we’re going to do, and that’s a heck of a fight,” O’Malley said. “I’m better than Petr and I really believe that. And I think that’s what’s going to do the job. I will go there more prepared than Petr, I will go there and do what I do. Obviously knocking Peter’s lights out would be massive, but I just have to go out there and get the job done against Peter Yan. Three five-minute rounds.
“He’s the best opponent that I’ve will ever face, and I’m thrilled about the chance. And I simply think that on October 22 I’ll be stronger than Petr.”
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