Sean O'Malley being protected by UFC from getting "killed" by Aljamain Sterling, says Bryce Mitchell (Exclusive)

Bryce Mitchell weighed in on the idea of a bantamweight clash between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley. From his standpoint, the UFC is doing everything in their capacity to protect 'Sugar' from brutally losing to the 135-pound champion.

'Thug Nasty' and O'Malley have been trading verbal jibes at each other. The bitterness emanated when the undefeated featherweight prospect questioned 'Sugar's qualifications ahead of his fight against Petr Yan at UFC 280. O'Malley won the fight by split decision and reacted to the video of Mitchell predicting the outcome of the fight by calling him an "inbred."

Although O'Malley leapfrogged ten spots to emerge as the No.1 contender following the victory at UFC 280, there hasn't been clear talk of the UFC booking the American as the next challenger to Sterling's bantamweight reign.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with James Lynch of Sportskeeda MMA, Bryce Mitchell claimed that the UFC is saving O'Malley from getting "killed" by Aljamain Sterling:

"The reason they [UFC] are not having the Sterling-O'Malley fight is because they want Aljamain to do anything but fight O'Malley right now. They're trying to protect the guy that's worth the money. O'Malley will get destroyed if he fought Sterling."

Mitchell reckons that O'Malley's decision to take some time after the victory to reflect on his performance is an attempt to avoid a fight against Sterling:

"I think he knows that too.. That's why he's not over here saying that he wants a title shot. Aljo would kill him. I've trained with Aljo for ten years now."

Watch our exclusive interview with Bryce Mitchell below:

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"He's six-foot something tall" - Bryce Mitchell confident Sean O'Malley will move up to featherweight

Bryce Mitchell is confident that a fight between him and Sean O'Malley will materialize in the future. In his opinion, 'Sugar's height will play the deciding factor for the seemingly inexorable move to the featherweight division.

Further, Mitchell added that he is determined to fight O'Malley inside the octagon. Speaking in the aforementioned interview, Mitchell stated:

"He's going to have to move up, I'm sure. I mean, he needs to. He's six-foot something tall. He's six-foot-five or some s**t. He needs to move up a weight class. And I do believe we're going to clash."

The 28-year-old strongly believes that he will emerge as the victor if the fight comes to fruition regardless of O'Malley's approach.

Mitchell was last seen inside the octagon against explosive featherweight Edson Barboza at UFC 272. He won the lopsided contest by unanimous decision. His next assignment is booked against Ilia Topuria on December 10, 2022 at UFC 282.