After the devastating knockout of the MMA veteran Eddie Wineland earlier this month at UFC 250, Sean O’Malley broke into the top 15 UFC bantamweights, and is already looking for his next opponent.
Speaking to BJPenn.com, ‘Sugar’ explained that Marlon Vera is one of the bantamweight contenders he would be interested in fighting next.
“Marlon Vera is a fight I’d definitely be interested in doing after it was supposed to happen last year,” O’Malley said. “I don’t know what will be next though, that’s up to Sean Shelby. He will come to me with a name and we will figure it out.”
O’Malley and ‘Chito’ were scheduled to meet inside the Octagon at UFC 239 in July last year, but ‘Sugar’ was pulled from the card as his troubles with USADA continued. Now that he has finally had his name cleared, the 25 wants to stay active.
“I talked to Dana on Monday and he said I want you fighting, I want you to be active. I just said I want to be active. Sean Shelby is doing a good job getting fighters going so I think something good will pop up soon.”
The rankings don’t really matter to O’Malley as he is confident that it’s only a matter of time before he’s wearing the bantamweight crown.
“If there is a number that would be cool,” he said. “But, I’m gonna be champ soon anyway. It depends who the UFC makes me fight next so there are way too many variables of when I’ll get the title shot.”
There are various names thrown in the mix for his next opponent besides Vera. One of them is the legendary Urijah Faber, whom O’Malley wouldn’t like to fight because of his iconic status and ‘cool’ personality.
Then we have the former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. ‘Sugar’ would love to get locked inside the Octagon with him, although he feels that ‘No Love’ wouldn’t accept that match.
“I just don’t think I’d ever want to fight Urijah Faber,” O’Malley said. “He was the first person I ever saw on TV. I just remember watching ‘The California Kid’ and I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s a cool motherf***er and I don’t have any interest in fighting Urijah.
“Cody, yeah that is a fight I’d take. He’s a former champ and he won’t try and lay on me, instead, he will strike with me. But, it’s a lose-lose fight for him.”
Who would you like to see Sean O’Malley fight next?
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