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Sean O'Malley and Petr Yan are set to face off at UFC 280 in a fight many believe will determine who receives the next bantamweight title opportunity. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski recently detailed what must change for Yan to emerge victorious.
During his fight breakdown segment on his YouTube channel, Volkanovski opined that Petr Yan would be even more dangerous if the fight was five rounds long instead of three:
"Five-rounder? Petr Yan all day. Obviously, again, [this fight is a] three rounder, I'm gonna go Petr Yan again. He's my guy and he's proven himself. It's just we all know that Petr Yan likes to get that knowledge. He likes to break people down early and sort of get some reads and then go. He's very durable. His stuff is very good."
Volkanovski added:
"I really don't think he needs to even really feel out fighters, that's how good Petr Yan is, but we've seen that he likes to feel them out. I think that would be a bad idea to do this with Sean O'Malley. Don't give him [O'Malley] room, don't just walk forward because he [O'Malley] will try to fight on the back foot."
The pound-for-pound champion shared that he believes O'Malley will slow down as the fight progresses and it will come down to whether he does enough damage in the first two rounds.
Watch Alexander Volkanovski break down Sean O'Malley and Petr Yan below (starting at the 2:13 mark):
UFC President Dana White compares Sean O'Malley to Conor McGregor
Sean O'Malley recently shared that he wants to be the UFC's next Conor McGregor. UFC President Dana White believes that UFC 280 will present O'Malley with the opportunity to endear himself to fight fans, as McGregor did at UFC 194 by KO'ing Jose Aldo:
"There was this comparison recently where Sean O'Malley said 'I would love to be the next Conor McGregor and be a big global superstar.' Well, it's about winning key fights... He's already got that thing that people like about him, now it's about winning key fights. This fight for him is like Conor's Jose Aldo fight."
However, McGregor was in a title fight against a champion who hadn't lost in over a decade. Nonetheless, there will be plenty of eyes on O'Malley at UFC 280. If he is able to rise up to the challenge, he will likely receive a bantamweight title shot.
White recently announced that the winner of the UFC 280 matchup will fight for the belt. While things could change, O'Malley has the opportunity to make good on his desire to be the UFC's next global superstar.
