"He’s like a little f***ing Alex Pereira" - Sean O'Malley sets beef aside to heap praise on Ilia Topuria during live reaction to UFC 308 KO

Sean O'Malley labeled Ilia Topuria as a miniature version of Alex Pereira after witnessing his KO victory over Max Holloway at UFC 308. 'Sugar' kept aside his beef with 'El Matador' and wholeheartedly appreciated the Spaniard's performance.

Topuria faced challenges in the first two rounds of the UFC 308 encounter. Holloway managed to keep him at bay with his accurate jabs. 'Blessed's' slick footwork also helped him stay out of Topuria's firing range. The Georgian-Spaniard's bout was quite explosive, but the fight stayed pretty even till the end of the second round.

What followed in the third round startled everyone watching, including O'Malley. Topuria fired a lethal right hook which landed clean on Holloway's jaw, making him wobble. The current featherweight champ put the final nail in Holloway's coffin with a vicious left hook.

O'Malley put out a video on his YouTube channel showcasing his reactions to the UFC 308 fights. After watching the devastating power behind Topuria's strikes, he couldn't help dubbing Topuria a "little" Alex Pereira.

"Ilia is [was] so dangerous the whole fight. He’s like a little fu**ing Alex Pereira."

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments below (2:46):

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What was the reason behind the beef between Sean O'Malley and Ilia Topuria?

Ilia Topuria has gained a reputation for his verbal jabs towards other fighters. As a result, he has gotten into feuds with several UFC stars, including Sean O'Malley.

But the beef between the two was a rather short-lived one. It started with O'Malley's UFC 299 octagon interview, where he stated that he wanted to move up in weight and challenge Topuria for the UFC featherweight gold.

Check out Sean O'Malley's comments (1:51):

The current UFC featherweight champ addressed O'Malley's callout in an interview with MMA Junkie. By then, O'Malley had been booked to fight Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, but 'Suga' still wanted to lock horns with Topuria if he won at UFC 306.

Topuria expressed that he had no issues with defending his title against O'Malley, but he also took a subtle dig at the former bantamweight champ, labeling him under-confident.

"[O'Malley will fight me] if he wins [against Dvalishvili]. When he pronounces these kinds of things, like, 'If I win', it's because he's not very confident about himself, right? First of all, he has a very tough matchup ahead. If he does it [wins against Dvalishvili], why not?"

Check out Ilia Topuria's comments below:

The feud between the two ended after O'Malley lost his UFC featherweight gold to Topuria's compatriot, Dvalishvili, at UFC 306.