"He kind of shot himself in the foot" - Sean O'Malley believes Henry Cejudo's retirement was aimed at drawing more lucrative contract from UFC

Henry Cejudo has called for an interim title fight against Sean O'Malley. The No.1-ranked bantamweight responded by claiming that the former double champ's 2020 retirement was in the hopes of receiving a better contract from the UFC.

Speaking on his podcast, TimboSugarShow, O'Malley revealed that he would rather face Marlon Vera in an interim title fight:

"Me versus Chito is a lot bigger than me versus Henry," said O'Malley. "It's weird being all the accolades he has, he's not a draw and that's the reason he left. He wasn't getting paid what he 'deserved' so he thought maybe he would leave and the UFC would want him back and they didn't so now he kind of shot himself in the foot."

O'Malley added:

"Me versus Chito is a bigger fight," O'Malley continued. "Me versus Cory Sandhagen's a bigger fight. Me versus this coffee cup would probably be a little bit bigger fight, but yeah I'm super curious where this division's going to go."

Henry Cejudo is certainly worthy of an interim title fight due to his past accolades. A fight with Vera would likely be a much bigger draw due to his history with O'Malley. The No.4-ranked bantamweight handed O'Malley the only loss of his mixed martial arts career with a first-round TKO at UFC 252 in 2020.

Watch Sean O'Malley discuss Henry Cejudo's drawing power below (starting at the 25:50 mark):

---

Sean O'Malley shares his thoughts on UFC 281 main event

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will look to defend his belt for the sixth time at UFC 281. He will face his former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira in their first mixed martial arts meeting. Sean O'Malley shared his thoughts on the upcoming matchup.

Speaking on his podcast, TimboSugarShow, O'Malley shared that he is pulling for Israel Adesanya to retain his belt:

"I would love to see him go out there and win. It would be sad to see - I like Alex," said O'Malley. "I met him once...he's giant, he's f**king terrifying, he's a scary human being - but I'd love to see Izzy win. With those little gloves and those guys are both that high-level strikers, that's a f**king coin flip, but I do agree with you, I think Izzy has more tricks, especially in an octagon."

Adesanya has never faced Pereira in a mixed martial arts fight, however, the two have met twice in kickboxing. The middleweight champion lost both fights, suffering the only knockout of his combat sports career in the latter. He enters UFC 281 determined to avenge the losses.

Watch Sean O'Malley share his thoughts on the main event of UFC 281 below (starting at the 18:27 mark):