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A UFC legend weighed in on the idea of Sean O'Malley moving up to 145 pounds and challenging Ilia Topuria in his next fight and noted that it doesn't appear to be a possibility at the moment.
Chael Sonnen recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel and discussed the possibility of 'El Matador' vs. 'Sugar', and whether he believes they are going about a potential bout correctly. He brought up that there is a way for the bout to be booked, but it depends on how they approach it.
Sonnen mentioned that he doesn't think it will materialize based on what he has been seeing and noted that there could be other opponents in mind. He said:
"If [Ilia] Topuria and Sean [O'Malley] can get going after each other in just the right way before anybody else interrupts, they could build some real headway. I don't think that's going to happen. I think that Sean is going to fight Merab [Dvalishvili] and I don't at all think that O'Malley and Topuria are going to [fight] at all." [6:15 - 6:34]
It will be interesting to see whether O'Malley and Topuria compete against each other in the future as they have both become big stars for the promotion since their respective championship wins.
Check out the full video below:
Sean O'Malley opens up about potential bout against Ilia Topuria
Sean O'Malley recently opened up about a potential bout against Ilia Topuria after he called out the reigning featherweight champion following his win over Marlon Vera at UFC 299.
The bantamweight champion made it clear that he'd like to challenge Topuria and responded to his recent tweet that he should fight Merab Dvalishvili next. During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Sean O'Malley mentioned that the featherweight champion is in no position to make demands and noted that the promotion will ultimately decide his future opponent. He said:
"I go back and forth between Ilia and Merab. Ilia, this guy's acting like he’s running the show … Like, the UFC’s going to decide, buddy. He’s acting like he gets to call. He wants me to fight Merab next; like I have more title defenses, so he's talking out of his mouth a little too much but at the end of the day, it's gonna be what uncle Dana [White], uncle Hunter [Campbell], it's gonna be what they want."
