Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 and Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 press conference. Credit: Ian Maule/Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Sean O’Malley understands why UFC champ Ilia Topuria doesn’t want to fight no. 1 contender

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow
By Christopher De Santiago | Last updated Aug 1, 2025 10:22 PM ET

Former UFC champ Sean O’Malley says he gets where Ilia Topuria is coming from.

Currently sitting on the lightweight throne is Ilia Topuria, having become the new champion of the world with a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.

Post-fight, the cameras focused on three potential opponents for Topuria: Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, and Paddy Pimblett, with Pimblett landing a face-off with the champion in the Octagon.

Many pundits like Paul Felder and Michael Bisping have pushed for #1 contender Tsarukyan to get the next title shot after back-to-back wins over Oliveira and Beneil Dariush. Bisping asked if Topuria was ‘pulling a Jon Jones’ by not fighting Tsarukyan.

Topuria recently said he’d rather vacate the title than risk a cancellation with Tsarukyan, who withdrew from a title fight with Makhachev earlier this year at UFC 311 due to injury.

O’Malley has weighed in on the controversy, as fans accuse Topuria of ‘ducking’ the #1 contender.

Sean O’Malley says there’s bigger fights for Ilia Topuria than Arman Tsarukyan

O’Malley believes Tsarukyan could be one of Topuria’s biggest title threats at 155 lbs. However, in terms of promotion, ‘Suga’ thinks there are bigger fights out there for Topuria.

“Arman definitely has a chance,” O’Malley said of Tsarukyan’s chances against Topuria on The Overdogs Podcast.

“He definitely has a shot.”

“In Ilia’s mind… Ilia’s such a massive superstar right now. It’s like, why fight Arman when you could fight Islam [Makhachev] or even Gaethje is a bigger fight than Arman. I think Paddy is a bigger fight,” O’Malley added.

“So it just depends on where Ilia’s head’s at. Does he want to just go out there and say hey, I want the next best guy?

“I feel like he’s kinda past that,” O’Malley said.

“He’s kinda like, who’s the biggest fight? What’s gonna [get] the most attention? And in his mind, it’s not Arman right now. So, I kinda get where he’s coming from.

“Why risk it against someone that’s not super popular, who’s very, very, very dangerous? Arman’s very dangerous. So, I kinda get that from Ilia’s perspective.”

Sean O’Malley got one title defense in before Merab Dvalishvili

O’Malley’s bantamweight title reign lasted 392 days, ending at the hands of Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last September.

O’Malley took on criticism during his reign as he rematch lower-ranked contender Chito Vera, who has a win over him, in his first title defense instead of Dvalishvili, the #1 contender who was on a 10-fight win streak at the time.

Dvalishvili proved to be a stylistic nightmare for O’Malley across their two fights and O’Malley’s championship run likely would have been cut short had he met Dvalishvili instead of Vera.

At the very least, O’Malley can say he recorded one title defense as champion, dominating Vera in a five-round decision to retain his belt at UFC 299, avenging a previous loss in the process.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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