Sean O’Malley knows a thing or two about being the underdog, having shocked the world with his win over Aljamain Sterling. But according to “Sugar” Sean, there’s an even bigger upset waiting to happen if Paddy Pimblett were to fight Islam Makhachev. O’Malley recently claimed that while his victory over Sterling was huge, Paddy beating the UFC lightweight champion would be on another level entirely.
However, in order for that to happen, Paddy would have to secure a few wins over some big names first to get to a title shot.
O’Malley further dove deeper into his thought process in his recent podcast with Tim Welch, his head coach. During their conversation he also talked about how Paddy had submitted King Green faster than Islam did.
“Paddy submitted Bobby ‘King’ Green one second faster than Islam. I was thinking about this, would Paddy beating Islam, that was like me fighting Aljo. He was not ranked pound for pound but he was up there. I was a massive underdog and I went out there and knocked out Aljo. Paddy doing that to Islam would be bigger cause Islam is ranked number one.”
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Even though O’Malley was a major underdog going into the fight against Sterling his situation can not be compared to Paddy. For starters, Islam Makhachev is a way more dominant champion than Sterling ever was.
And secondly, O’Malley was widely considered a future champion, something that is not said about Paddy, not yet at least. To add to that, the Scouser does not have a single win over anyone in the top 15 at lightweight so far. However, that could change in his next fight.
Pimblett on his way to a title shot?
Pimblett entered the UFC with a lot of fanfare and attention surrounding him. ‘The Baddy’ was a two division world champion with Cage Warriors, the same promotion that McGregor fought in. In his most recent outing in the UFC, Pimblett secured a win over Bobby Green to move him up to #15 on the lightweight rankings in the UFC.
At present, the British fighter is at least two if not three wins away from any title shot conversations. Depending on his activity levels and his ability to win, it could be 2026 at the earliest before we see him fight for the title.
The champion, Islam on the other hand looks set to take on Arman Tsarukyan in his fourth title defense early next year.
So, needless to say, there’s some gap between the two that could take years to bridge in. That said, if Paddy does manage to get a couple of impressive, dominant wins, and the crowd calls for it, there would be no reason for Makhachev to not fight him.
