Sean O’Malley sees his upcoming fight against Petr Yan as a special moment.
The UFC 280 event is just days away and fans are beginning to get very excited. The entire main card is filled with huge stars and even bigger matchups. There are two title fights as the main and co-main events. Charles Oliveira will be hunting for his lost lightweight belt when he takes on Islam Makhachev and Aljamain Sterling defends his bantamweight title against TJ Dillashaw. Despite these huge bouts, some fans are looking forward to another fight on this card. The people’s main event seems to be Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley.
O’Malley has grown in popularity over his five years in the UFC. He has the personality and skills to become one of the biggest stars in the organization. He already sees himself in that light, but now others are seeing him that way as well. Recently UFC president Dana White spoke about O’Malley and how this fight against Yan could be his jumping-off point to superstardom. White likened this bout to that of Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo. Following that win, McGregor really began to solidify himself as a star.
Sean O’Malley knows one thing for sure, his fight against Petr Yan is going to be massive.
O’Malley knows he is set for fame and fortune. He was asked about the comparison to McGregor during UFC 280 media day via The Mac Life and had a response for the boss man.
“I kind of already knew that. I mean, I’m the biggest draw in the bantamweight division, one of the biggest draws in UFC, I go out there and beat the number one guy who else would I fight other than for the title? So I kind of already knew that here and it confirmed from Dana,” he said. “I mean, already knew that basically. So it didn’t really do much. But yeah, I think this is a massive fight. It’s obviously not a main event, but this could be a main event it’s the massive fight.”
O’Malley is not sure if the comparison is completely accurate but he is certain that it will be a huge fight, one that will lead him to a title shot with a win. There has been some talk about him perhaps not deserving a title shot immediately because he is coming into the bout ranked 11. Some feel that the title contender should go through Marlon Vera, who is also highly ranked. Either way, O’Malley is confident that it will be his day on Saturday.
“This Sugar vs Petr fight it’s a sweet fight you know, the chance of me going out there knocking them out in 13 seconds is very low. So it’s hard to, I don’t know, Sugar vs, Petr seems sweeter to me than Conor vs. Aldo,” he said.
UFC 280 goes down on Oct. 22 live from Abu Dhabi. The prelims begin at 10 am ET and the main card will start at 2 pm ET.
Watch the entire interview here:
