Sean O’Malley has revealed which UFC star he’d like to fight the most. O’Malley suggested that he doesn’t specifically have a dream fight, but if asked to choose, he’d love to fight Petr Yan.
During an appearance on Bradley Martyn’s Raw Talk podcast, ‘Suga’ praised interim UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan and labeled the Russian fighter a “gangster.” Upon being asked whether he had a dream fight, Sean O’Malley stated:
“Not really. If I just say one person; probably Petr Yan, the Russian dude. He’s a fu****g gangster. He’s like, in my eyes, probably one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world right now. I think it would be a sick fu****g fight.”
Additionally, when asked whether he thinks he could beat Petr Yan if they fight next week, Sean O’Malley jested that he’ll likely lose to Yan because he hasn’t been training hard as of late. Regardless, ‘Suga’ added:
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“I don’t look at Petr Yan and like, think that I can’t beat him. I wouldn’t have said that just now like, I want to fight him, if I didn’t think that. I could fight Petr. Like, I could beat anybody in the [UFC bantamweight] division right now. I believe my skills are that high. I’m able to perform at the highest level.”
Watch Sean O’Malley address a potential fight against Petr Yan and more in the video below:
T.J. Dillashaw on the highly-anticipated rematch between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273
Bantamweight KO artist Sean O’Malley highlighted that he doesn’t know who and when he’ll fight next. ‘Suga’ added, however, that his upcoming fight could transpire in July.
Meanwhile, former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is recovering from a knee injury and has recently been lobbying for a title shot.
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will face interim champ Petr Yan in a rematch, a title unification matchup, at UFC 273 on April 9th. Their first fight witnessed Sterling win via DQ (disqualification) and capture the bantamweight belt in March of last year, courtesy of an illegal knee from Yan.
Speaking to ESPN MMA, T.J. Dillashaw weighed in on the Sterling-Yan rematch. Dillashaw claimed that he expected Aljamain Sterling’s grappling to give Petr Yan more trouble in their first fight, but Yan easily countered ‘Funk Master’ in that realm. Picking Yan to win the rematch, Dillashaw said:
"My money's on Yan just to see that fight went down and you know kind of see how Aljamain just break and give up…Yan's a killer. You know the way he fights, he stays real tight, stays clean and he's got the mentality that he's a fighter."