Sean O’Malley has explained why he won’t entertain five-round fights for the time being.
O’Malley is currently riding a solid three-fight winning streak, with his most recent victory coming against Raulian Paiva by first round stoppage at UFC 269. ‘Suga’ has won six out of his seven fights in the UFC, earning four Performance of the Night and two Fight of the Night bonuses.
Despite his impressive performances, O’Malley is often accused of playing it safe and dodging challenges. Responding to the criticism, UFC president Dana White said that the bantamweight prospect can’t be fast-tracked like Khamzat Chimaev because he still needs time to develop.
No Five-Round Fights For Now
Speaking on the Full Send podcast (as transcribed by MMA News), O’Malley said that he won’t entertain five-round fights unless he gets paid a handsome amount for doing it.
“I don’t want a f***ing five-round fight,” O-Malley said. “They’re gonna give me like, $20,000 extra to go fight, basically another fight, 10 minutes. I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna f***ing do that.’ When I’m champ, yeah. There comes a point, you can’t say no to the UFC, you know what I mean? I’d rather not fight five rounds unless you wanna pay me a f***ing lot more money. You know how much more training goes [into it].
“That was like a 10-week camp [ahead of UFC 269] for 15 minutes. That’s a hard camp. I think, though, with the level of cardio I was in, I could have gone five rounds, just because when you’re in there, you’re not gonna give up, you’re not gonna fall, you’re gonna fight. But five rounds, that’s a lot. That’s 25 minutes of f***ing fist-fighting. I’d like to be paid, if I’m gonna do that, paid equally. That’s a long time to f***ing fight, dude.”
Who do you think Sean O’Malley should fight next?
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