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Sean O'Malley has ascended the UFC bantwamweight rankings, moving from No.11 to No.1 with his victory over Petr Yan at UFC 280. 'Sugar' surprised fans and pundits with his superb performance against the Russian.
Many expected 'No Mercy' to be too much, too soon for O'Malley. Now, people are speculating what could be next for the bantamweight superstar.
Current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has stated that he won't be fighting before June next year. This has spurred Henry Cejudo, who is keen to return to MMA, to call out Sean O'Malley for an interim title fight.
'Sugar' has responded by saying that he would rather fight someone who deserves it, like Marlon 'Chito' Vera:
"Id rather fight someone who deserves it like Chito."
See the tweet below:
Marlon Vera is the only man to have defeated Sean O'Malley in an MMA fight. The pair fought in 2020, and 'Chito' walked away victorious after a TKO finish.
'Sugar' did not acknowledge the defeat and claimed he was "mentally undefeated." A leg kick by Vera early in the fight disabled the peroneal nerve in O'Malley's leg. The nerve injury caused 'Sugar' to not feel his foot and fall to the ground, where he was finished by 'Chito'.
The pair have existing beef, and the storyline has already been written for the UFC.
Sean O'Malley on Petr Yan bringing out the "dog" in him at UFC 280
Sean O'Malley is now ranked No.1 in the UFC bantamweight rankings after defeating Petr Yan via split decision at UFC 280.
Whilst O'Malley did enough to win the third round according to many observers, the first two were extremely close, with both fighters landing powerful shots.
In a recent episode of the TimboSugaShow podcast, 'Sugar' explained how Yan was able to bring out the best in him in a way that he had expected.
Sean O'Malley spoke to co-host of the podcast and coach Tim Welch, as well as guest Logan Paul, about the fight against 'No Mercy'. He said:
"I've known I've had it [that dog]. I've been training for 12 years, I've had gym wars with killers and been able to be in those positions... and I knew I wasn't going to give up... I said I know Petr will bring out the best version of me... Petr brought it out of me. He brought that dog out."
Watch the video below from 5:20:
