- Following an impressive win over Marlon Vera at UFC 299, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley called out featherweight titleholder Ilia Topuria.
- Topuria initially rejected the fight and instead told O’Malley to focus on fighting Merab Dvalishvili first.
- Topuria opened as a heavy favorite in a potential future fight against O’Malley.
Sean O’Malley (18-1-0), 29, impressively defended his bantamweight title in a rematch against Marlon Vera (23-9-1) at UFC 299. Moments after O’Malley won by unanimous decision over Vera, “Suga” Sean issued a challenge to featherweight champ Ilia Topuria (15-0-0).
Despite O’Malley’s strong performance, his opponent has opened as a -250 favorite at BetOnline. Since the prices were released, the Topuria vs. O’Malley betting odds continue to rise in favor of “El Matador”.
Currently, Topuria is a -285 favorite to beat O’Malley in a future bout. The odds suggest an implied probability of 74% for a victory for the Georgian fighter in a super-fight between the two UFC champions.
O’Malley Fine With Moving Up
Along with calling out Topuria, O’Malley stated that he doesn’t care what weight class he fights in. The champ claims that he is bigger than the belt and is focused on improving his legacy in the UFC.
“I don’t know,” O’Malley said when he was asked about what is next for his career. “We’ll go with the flow. If it happens, I feel I could move up to ‘45. I feel like I’m gonna get to a point where I don’t even need the belt. I’m bigger than the belt. Having the belt, I’m gonna fight [a] main event at f****** 140, 142, just for f****** fun.”
O’Malley referenced Conor McGregor being a 145-pound champion fighting at 170 pounds.
“The belt’s cool, but once you get to a certain point, you can main event and just kinda fight.” O’Malley noted. “Look, Conor McGregor was [145] pound champ fighting at 170 fighting Nate. I wanna get there.”
That statement handles one potential question between a potential O’Malley vs. Topuria fight. “Suga” would be open to moving up in weight class to fight his rival. The Georgian featherweight recently captured the title with a dominant second-round KO of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298.
Despite entering the fight as an underdog, Topuria made a huge statement against “Volk”. While O’Malley is interested in fighting, the featherweight champ seems reluctant to face him.
Topuria Tells O’Malley to Focus on Dvalishvili
Topuria is open to fighting O’Malley, but probably not right now. He didn’t outright reject a challenge from “Suga”. However, Topuria is interested in seeing O’Malley fight fellow Georgia fighter, Merab Dvalishvili (17-4-0), first.
Dvalishvili was not thrilled with O’Malley’s comments after his win at UFC 299. Currently, on a ten-fight win streak, the contender has been patiently waiting for a championship bout.
Dvalishvili, who was in attendance at UFC 299, immediately responded to O’Malley after he called out Topuria.
“What a piece of sh*t, Dvalishvili said at UFC 299. “Now I’m so mad, I’m so pissed off. I’m so pissed he don’t call me out! C’mon bro, I’m number one contender — fight me bro! If you’re good, then show the world. But you are a scared little skinny guy. You wanna call somebody who’s not gonna fight you.”
It’s more than likely that an O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili fight is scheduled before Topuria. At the moment, the featherweight champ does not have any future fights booked, but it would most likely happen in his home country of Spain.
UFC CEO Dana White has mentioned previously that he is interested in holding a PPV at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
That fight is unlikely to be against O’Malley, however. Currently, at BetOnline, Dvalishvili is a -170 favorite to beat O’Malley. “The Machine” is coming off a decision win over Henry Cejudo at UFC 298.
Also, BetOnline has odds for a potential rematch between Topuria and Volkanovski. Topuria is a -256 favorite to defeat Volkanovski and retain his featherweight title.
