"Why would the champion go take the risks?" - Sean O'Malley and coach discuss Israel Adesanya's recent criticism from fans

Sean O'Malley and his coach Tim Welch recently discussed the flak Israel Adesanya has received since his last fight against Jared Cannonier.

On episode #51 of the RedHawk Recap podcast, hosted by Welch, the topic of Adesanya came up, particularly the harsh criticism aimed at his 'boring' performances.

'Sugar' was quick to respond to Adesanya's haters, insisting that the champion's level of competition means his fights can't all be barnburners.

"Especially when you're fighting someone like Jared [Cannonier] or these motherf*cking killers he's fighting... I mean, yeah it can't always be exciting."

Welch then reiterated the point by saying:

"Dude, you [MMA fans] have no f*cking clue. Take a risk against him, or why would the champion go take the risks?"

Watch the full podcast episode below:

The frustration of 'Sugar' and Welch is clear to see. The pair have acquired extremely high levels of knowledge regarding MMA, so hearing such remarks about an athlete who puts their body on the line has no doubt annoyed them.

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Sean O'Malley is suprised that Petr Yan accepted the fight against him

Sean O'Malley was not satisfied with the result of his last fight against Pedro Munhoz. With that said, he told the UFC that he was keen to step back into the octagon as soon as he could.

'Sugar' sustained no damage in the fight against Munhoz and searching for a quick turnaround. When the UFC responded by saying Petr Yan was the only top-10 fighter without an opponent, O'Malley wasted no time in saying yes to the fight.

'Sugar' was surprised when Yan took the fight, as he admitted to Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA.

"Yeah I told them [UFC] I would like to fight again, what have you got for me? They said Petr was the only one without a fight, let's see if he wants it. So, like I said, I am surprised he took it. There is a reward though. I mean, you beat me, I'm the biggest name in the bantamweight division, one of the biggest names in the UFC right now. So in that sense, I'm not surprised. "

Watch the interview below:

Sean O'Malley will hope to surprise fans and pundits alike with an upset victory over Petr Yan. 'Sugar' has dreams of a UFC title, and a win could mean his next fight is against the bantamweight champion.