Ilia Topuria believes Sean O’Malley doesn’t deserve a featherweight title shot because he has contenders to take care of at bantamweight.
At UFC 299, O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight title against Marlon Vera by a landslide unanimous decision after beating ‘Chito’ up for five-rounds.
After the bout, ‘Suga’ told Rogan that he wanted to fight newly-crowned UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, instead of defending his title against number one contender, Merab Dvalishvili.
“Dana, get me a jet to Spain, baby, I’m coming for Ilia Topuria,” O’Malley said.
Topuria doesn’t seem very interested in the fight.
“Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first,” Topuria wrote on X.
Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first .
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) March 10, 2024
Topuria’s comments were met with online criticism from fans who reminded him of something similar he had said after his win over Alex Volkanovski at UFC 298.
When asked who he’d prefer to defend his title against, ‘El Matador’ refused to name any featherweight contender, saying that none of them were good enough. Instead, he called for a clash with Conor McGregor, followed by a challenge to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Following Topuria’s call out, the Russian sent out a stern warning to him.
“Another short guy is talking. Another short guy wants to be smashed,” Makhachev said in a tweet.
Who do you think would win a potential super fight between Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria?
