Raul Rosas Jr has said that Sean O’Malley’s rise to the top of the bantamweight food chain is both good and bad for the division.
O’Malley secured the title by knocking out Aljamain Sterling in only 51 seconds at UFC 292, and he will now make his first title defense against Marlon Vera next year at UFC 299.
The two faced off for the first time at UFC 252, where Vera stopped O’Malley in the first round to hand him his first and only career loss. Despite the history between the two, many fans are not happy with the booking since they think Merab Dvalishvili deserved to fight for the belt.
In a recent interview with Hablemos MMA, Rosas Jr explained why Dvalishvili was looked over.
“I think it’s good for the division because it brings more attention to the division,” Rosas said. “I know that he’s someone that, if we ever fight in the future, it’s a fight that would be huge in the division. I don’t know if it will ever happen because I think he’s looking for – like I don’t know if he’s going to defend his title much because I saw he was trying to fight Gervonta Davis and stuff like that, so I don’t know if he’s going to want to do other things.
“Also, the truth is that there are a lot of tough styles for him that are in title contention in my opinion: Merab being one of them. So let’s see what happens. … Him being champion, in a way it’s bad for the division, for the guys that truly deserve to fight for the title. But at the same time, it’s also good for the division because he brings a lot of attention.”
Do you agree with Raul Rosas Jr?
