Sean O’Malley is open to facing any opponent the UFC assigns him next, although he acknowledges that reigning featherweight champion Ilia Topuria won’t have a say in that decision.
Following his dominant victory over Marlon “Chito” Vera in the UFC 299 main event, O’Malley wasted no time expressing his interest in a potential bout against Topuria, urging the UFC to arrange a matchup in Spain later this year. In response, Topuria congratulated O’Malley on his performance but redirected his attention to a potential fight with Merab Dvalishvili, stating that O’Malley should prioritize that bout first.
O’Malley said on The MMA Hour,
“Ilia, this guy’s acting like he’s running the show like ‘no, you sit down and wait. The UFC’s going to decide, buddy. This guy’s acting like he gets the call, he wants me to fight Merab. I have more title defenses so he’s talking out of his mouth a little bit too much.
“But at the end of the day, it’s going to be what uncle Dana [White], uncle Hunter [Campbell], it’s going to be whatever they want. I’m open for whatever.”
While O’Malley didn’t previously consider moving up to the featherweight division during Alexander Volkanovski’s reign as champion due to his respect for him, the situation is different with Topuria. O’Malley respects Topuria as a fighter but also recognizes the potential for a highly anticipated showdown between them.
“I don’t know there’s just certain people that you kind of just want to fight. Ilia’s that guy. He’s also done a really good job. He’s a star. He’s not a superstar but he’s close and it takes two names to make massive fights.
“I’ve been very vocal since I’ve been in the UFC, my goal is to get the massive fights. That’s what I want and that’s the reason behind that callout.”
Despite UFC CEO Dana White’s reluctance to discuss matchmaking immediately after UFC 299, O’Malley appears open to the idea of facing Dvalishvili next. He believes that a matchup with Dvalishvili could generate significant interest from fans, even if it may not be as financially rewarding as pursuing a title in another weight class.
“I definitely think a Merab fight would be pretty big. He’s on a 10 fight win streak. He was kind of known for being boring, boring, boring and now he’s popular for being boring. It’s kind of a weird way to get popular but he did it, which is impressive.
“I think that fight can be marketed well. 10 fight win streak, I knocked out his cousin [Aljamain Sterling] and it’s all good.”
After his recent victory, O’Malley encountered Dvalishvili backstage, where Dvalishvili congratulated him and expressed his desire for a title shot. Although O’Malley initially downplayed the interaction, he later admitted recognizing Dvalishvili, finding humor in the situation.
“I did [recognize him]. I just thought that s*** would be funny.”
Regarding his next fight, O’Malley didn’t sustain any serious injuries from his bout with Vera, although he took precautionary measures by wrapping his foot and hand post-fight. He is already feeling better just a few days after UFC 299.
“I feel way better today than I did five seconds after the fight. After the fight, your body’s just f****** inflamed, you’re hurting, my foot was real sore. I kicked him in the face with it a few times. It’s the same foot I had the Lisfranc surgery on and it was really hurting so I was a little nervous about that. They’ve got you walking miles backstage from interview to interview, doing laps around that place. I figured might as well put my foot in a boot, take a little bit of the pressure off of it.
“My forearms, hands are feeling good. I don’t think there’s any serious injuries. I haven’t gotten x-rays or anything, I don’t even know if there’s really going to be a need for it. But I think I’ll be back to running around here in a couple of days.”
While O’Malley has a location and date in mind for his next fight, he prioritizes these aspects over the identity of his opponent.
“Headlining The Sphere in Vegas [at UFC 306 in September], let’s do it. I think that makes sense. I don’t think anybody would argue against that. I think that would be legendary.
“I know Conor [McGregor’s] talked about potentially going on that card, potentially at International Fight Week so out of respect for him still being the best and the biggest in the business, I’ll take wherever I can get but I think that would be interesting.”
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