Ricky Simon has called out highly touted prospect Sean O'Malley after his recent performance at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.
Simon stopped Welsh bantamweight Jack Shore's 16-fight undefeated run with a second-round arm-triangle choke submission on Saturday's UFC Long Island preliminary card.
Watch Simon submit Shore below:
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The American scored his second straight stoppage win and wasted no time in calling out O'Malley. During the post-fight octagon interview, the 29-year-old said:
"O'Malley, the Sugar Show is over. I'm the sweetest thing in this bantamweight division."
Watch Simon's call-out of O'Malley below:
Ricky Simon recorded his fifth consecutive win in the promotion with his latest performance against Jack Shore. The Welsh fighter was also seeking his fifth straight victory under the UFC banner.
Simon currently sits just below O'Malley in the divisional rankings at No.13. With a performance like that, it is possible that he surpasses 'Sugar' with the next rankings update.
Ricky Simon claims to be a bad matchup for Sean O'Malley
Ricky Simon has been calling for a fight with Sean O'Malley for a long time now. The 29-year-old also challenged 'Sugar' after his impressive knockout of Raphael Assuncao at UFC Vegas 45 in December.
After seeing that O'Malley wasn't responding to the challenge, Simon stated that 'Sugar' was avoiding a fight with him due to fear of his superior wrestling. He said during an interaction with LowKick MMA:
"He don't wanna deal with the wrestling. His skinny body couldn't handle the power doubles for sure... I'm just such a bad matchup for him at this stage of his career that he's not going to take the fight. Which is, you know, all right, if you wanna play your way to the title, that's all on you, but don't be saying my name and acting like you wanna fight me."
Catch Ricky Simon's full interview with LowKick MMA below:
Sean O'Malley is arguably one of the biggest stars in the UFC bantamweight division right now. While he is ranked outside the top 10 and is yet to fight elite competition, 'Sugar' will be a big payday for any fighter he faces in his next outing.