'Poor Thomas' - Sean O'Malley felt bad that he had to land a hard KO shot to finish Almeida at UFC 260

'Sugar' Sean O'Malley did not want to throw the closing shot at Thomas Almeida at UFC 260.

In the ESPN+ show UFC Destined, Sean O'Malley spoke about his win against Thomas Almeida minutes after the fight took place. O'Malley expressed his disappointment at having to throw a final punch at the downed Almeida. 'Sugar' Sean added that he had to throw the shot anyway for the referee to call the stop to the contest.

"The motherf***er (Thomas Almeida) is a tough dude. I was cracking him with some shots where I was like, this dude is pretty (tough)... before that (last shot) I saw he was out. I didn't need to throw that. I mean I did because the ref was not gonna stop it, but like... Poor Thomas (expletives)..." Sean O'Malley said.

UFC bantamweight Sean O'Malley (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) made a successful comeback against Brazilian Thomas Almeida (22-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) after suffering his first professional loss against Marlon Vera in August 2020. O'Malley dominated his UFC 260 opponent right from the off.

O'Malley's attempt to score a walk-off knockout failed in the first round as the referee did not stop the fight after he dropped Almeida with a head kick. However, O'Malley finished Almeida in the third round. He landed a closing shot on his opponent after scoring a knockdown - to avoid a repeat of the first round.

'I think people wrote him off too soon' - Aljamain Sterling on Sean O'Malley

Sean O'Malley's reaction to the Marlon Vera loss at UFC 252 raised a lot of questions about his mindset and ability to assimilate losses. The bonus-winning performance against Thomas Almeida at UFC 260 wiped out all the questions about the 26-year-old's future.

In a recent interview with MiddleEasy, UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling shared his thoughts on O'Malley's impressive comeback after the Chito Vera loss. Sterling argued that O'Malley's win over Almeida is the benchmark to rate his abilities. He also alluded that the Chito Vera loss was a freak accident that could happen to anyone.

"I don't think he ever left, you know. I think people kind of wrote him off too soon. Chito (Marlon Vera) fight was a very flukish kind of scenario. Not saying it was a fluke kick... I don't think that type of fight ending could really put a damper on a mileage performance, what he was able to do (against Thomas Almeida)," Aljamain Sterling said.