"This is a rivalry I didn't see coming" - Fans react to Sean O'Malley sharing screenshot from footage of him seemingly hurting Alexandre Pantoja

Sean O'Malley and Alexandre Pantoja have exchanged words over the results of their sparring session, which reportedly took place six years ago. Tim Welch, who coaches the bantamweight champion, recently claimed that 'Suga' dropped Pantoja in the sparring session.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Welch revealed that Henry Cejudo wanted Pantoja to spar "one round" with O'Malley, before adding:

"Henry [Cejudo] wanted Pantoja to spar 'Suga' one round. Me and him were probably taking bong rips the night before - heavy bong rips, eating snacks, snacking out, playing Xbox, not really in fight camp at all... They spar one round, Sean comes out off the rip, puts him down. Puts him down in the first minute... Hits him with a liver shot, puts him down, Pantoja has to stop. He has to wave it off."

Check out Tim Welch's comments on Sean O'Malley sparring with Alexandre Pantoja below:

Welch added that the two sparred several more rounds after. O'Malley seemingly confirmed his coach's comments by sharing a screenshot of the footage, which MMA Orbit shared and captioned:

"Sean O’Malley has posted a screenshot of old sparring footage with current flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja 👀😳 #UFC301"

Check out the post from MMA Orbit below:

Fans weighed in on what appears to be a budding rivalry between the two champions. @The_FightLab claimed they did not see this coming:

"This is a rivalry I didn't see coming"

@ArthurNewman_7 questioned why the full footage of the sparring session wasn't released:

"Why a screenshot and not a video 🤔🤔🤔🤔"

@BrockMorrison19 was not phased by the footage:

"First Sean just showing us how bad he aged. Second it’s sparring no one cares. And Pantoja is a Flyweight why u so happy about beating him for. Focus on Merab, Umar, and Cory stop thinking about other divisions"

Check out the best fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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What did Alexandre Pantoja say about his sparring footage with Sean O'Malley?

Alexandre Pantoja will look to defend his flyweight title for the second time when he faces Steve Erceg in the main event of UFC 301 this weekend. 'The Cannibal' recently claimed that he got the best of Sean O'Malley in their sparring session.

Speaking to the New York Post, the flyweight champion stated:

"Right now, the champion for bantamweight is Sean O'Malley and I have some history with him... [I sparred] with him six years ago for my first UFC fight and he said some bad things about that and that's crazy."

Check out Alexandre Pantoja's full comments below:

Pantoja added that he asked for the full video, however, O'Malley refused to send it to him. On enquiring about it from the bantamweight champion's friend, he was told that 'Suga' did not want to send the video since he got smashed by 'The Cannibal'. It remains to be seen if the full footage will emerge.