'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Sean O'Malley believes Petr Yan has done enough over the course of his career to warrant a spot in the top-three of the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings.
Hailing his skills inside the octagon, 'Sugar' admitted that Petr Yan truly deserved to be alongside the likes of Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya at the top of the food chain.
Petr Yan most recently locked horns with Cory Sandhagen for the interim bantamweight title. They clashed after Aljamain Sterling was forced to pull out of his scheduled first title defense at UFC 267. Yan managed to outbox Sandhagen and walked away with a unanimous decision win after five rounds of entertaining action.
In an edition of the TimboSugarShow that aired in the aftermath of the UFC 267 event, Sean O'Malley touched upon Petr Yan's performance and the fact that his skills warranted a higher position on the UFC's pound-for-pound ladder.
"He's got to be pound-for-pound top-3. He's got to be right? I think [Kamaru Usman] is at number one. [Israel Adesanya] is up there right now. It probably goes Kamaru, Izzy, [Petr Yan]."
Sean O'Malley is hoping to fight Petr Yan sometime in the future
Petr Yan fought his way to an interim bantamweight title after losing his undisputed gold to Aljamain Sterling by way of disqualification back at UFC 259 in March this year. He is currently hurtling towards a massive unification bout against arch-rival 'Funkmaster'.
Sean O'Malley, on the other hand, hopes to bag a fight against Petr Yan a couple of years down the line. The 26-year-old confirmed his intention to meet Yan inside the cage for a pay-per-view headliner on the same episode of the TimboSugarShow.
"Me and [Petr Yan] are going to fight someday and it's going to be a massive fight. It's going to be a f***ing pay-per-view, headliner, massive fight whether it's 2023, 2024, whatever the f**k, whenever the f**k it is. It's going to be massive."
Catch the episode of the TimboSugarShow below:
