Petr Yan will set off on the highway to develop into UFC bantamweight champion as soon as extra by first going through high prospect Sean O’Malley at UFC 280, in keeping with the brash American.
The Russian was final seen within the octagon shedding a title rematch to present division king Aljamain Sterling by submission at UFC 273 in April after the ‘Funk Grasp’ first dethroned him in 2021 by way of disqualification.
As revealed by O’Malley to ESPN, Yan seems to be lined as much as face a determine considered as one among MMA’s most gifted up and comers for his return in October, in an Abu Dhabi present which will probably be headlined by Yan’s compatriot Islam Makhachev making an attempt to assert the light-weight crown towards Brazil’s Charles Oliveira.
“I am getting the combat that I needed and the combat that the individuals need,” O’Malley remarked.
“In my eyes, Petr is the primary contender proper now. He is just about 1-1 towards Aljo [Aljamain Sterling]… he could possibly be thought of the champion.
“Moving into there and stepping up towards a man like Petr is thrilling, it is motivating and it is the largest combat within the bantamweight division proper now,” O’Malley additional claimed.
Whereas Yan is 16-3 total and 8-2 within the UFC, O’Malley is 15-1 however has by no means confronted an opponent that boasts the caliber of ‘No Mercy’.
Yan is considered top-of-the-line strikers in MMA’s elite championship, and O’Malley is famous for his boxing abilities too therefore his ring identify ‘Sugar’.
The combat remains to be but to be formally introduced by the UFC itself, however O’Malley had teased that it is likely to be within the works after tweeting Yan and asking: “Hey Petr Yan, are you 5”4 or 5”5?
“Making an attempt get my coaching companions discovered,” O’Malley added.
Hey @PetrYanUFC are you 5”4 or 5”5 tryin get my coaching companions discovered
— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) July 15, 2022
Hey pink poodle @SugaSeanMMA , in the event you win on Saturday and actually wanna combat me I dare you to name me out and I’ll settle for it. However in the event you simply wanna make ineffective noise for hype, cease speaking about me, coward 🐩
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) July 1, 2022
As information of the showdown surfaced on Twitter, O’Malley additionally retweeted a remark from former fighter Tim Welch who mentioned there was a “Huge danger, massive reward” for O’Malley.
“Let’s go,” completed Welch.
But Yan has been chasing a gathering with O’Malley for just a few weeks now too, writing on July 1: “Hey pink poodle, [Sean O’Malley], in the event you win on Saturday and actually wanna combat me I dare you to name me out and I’ll settle for it.
“However in the event you simply wanna make ineffective noise for hype, cease speaking about me, coward,” Yan demanded.
Although O’Malley did not win at UFC 276 the next day, the combat ending in a no contest attributable to an unintended eye poke on Pedro Munhoz, which meant that Brazilian wasn’t in a position to proceed, resulted within the Yan combat nonetheless with the ability to be made.
At the moment ranked 13 within the bantamweight class, O’Malley can be within the dialog for a shot at Sterling if he will get previous primary contender Yan.
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