Sean O’Malley just really wants to fight on the Mexican Independence Day. No, he doesn’t have any secret Mexican heritage we don’t know about. But the Mexican Independence Day will see UFC 306 being hosted at The Sphere and he wants in. Unfortunately, his title defense against Merab Dvalishvili is most likely to not happen here.
O’Malley has been through the rumor mill but has yet to receive an actual update from Dana White if he’s fighting at the LA-based arena. But given that White has stated wanting only Mexican fighters to compete on the card since it’s the Mexican Independence Day, it’s unlikely that O’Malley is getting in.
White had even refused to entertain the idea of a super trilogy fight between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor at the event. Several sources also revealed that the UFC 306 would mark the event celebrating the Mexican Independence Day this year, instead of the ‘Noche UFC’ in 2023. So saying O’Malley’s chances are slim would be rather optimistic.
Although Merab might be the wild card ‘Suga’ might need.
O’Malley’s rival, Dvalishvili, had unfurled the Mexican flag during his UFC 298 press conference. It had the Mexican fans rallying behind him as well.
This is why ‘Sugar’ felt that the UFC might schedule the O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili encounter as the headliner for the Mexican Independence Day event (UFC 306). However as we mentioned before, there have been no talks with Dana White about this.
“I keep hearing little rumors about who’s fighting in the sphere. But, there have been no talks between me and the UFC about [fighting in] The Sphere”
In the episode, O’Malley also repeatedly talked about how he “keeps pushing” toward an opportunity to fight at The Sphere.
But some fans are bound to get confused by his words, as he was singing a different song about The Sphere a month ago.
Sean O’Malley wanted to avoid fighting at The Sphere
These statements from O’Malley about wanting to fight at The Spear bear a stark difference to what he had expressed about a month earlier. He counted The Sphere’s set up as a “weird” one . He had also claimed not to have been interested in fighting there if the cage was “smaller” than the regular size of the octagon.
So, you can’t really blame Dana for this one. Neither can you blame O’Malley, to be honest. O’Malley’s opinions are like climate, we have seen unprecedented changes in them in the last few years. Either way, it doesn’t matter because sooner or later, ‘Suga’ will have to defend that title, whether it is at the Sphere or not, is irrelevant.
