Sean O’Malley embraces the role of the underdog.
In September, the reign of O’Malley was finished with Bantamweight Champion after Merab Dvalishvili made a dominant five-round performance at UFC 306, abdicated the colorful fan favorites. Now, “Sugar” has returned and decided to regain his 135 pound championship this Saturday night when he ran at the UFC 316 headliner in Newark, New Jersey.
Naturally, O’Malley is a pretty underdog to the defending champion, and is preferred 3-1 to maintain the bantamweight crown and to raise 2 with the former champion.
Sean O’Malley wants to be a weaker than his favorites
With virtually everyone already counting him in the rematch, O’Malley sees his return to the octagon as an opportunity to prove the opposition wrong and reclaim his title in the way of highlight reels.
“I count this fight a lot, like the fight of Alho. I would rather be in this position than anyone else says, ‘You’re going to smoke this guy.’ Because combat is so unpredictable,” O’Malley said in a recent interview with Johnson’s YouTube channel. “I think Merab puts more pressure on him. Everyone knows, ‘I beat him nine months ago, is he supposed to defeat you now?” I know I can beat Merab.
The UFC 316 will be O’Malley’s first competition within the Octagon since facing Dvalishvili at the end of last year.
As for Dvalishvili, “The Machine” added another impressive victory to his resume in January, handing Dagestani star Umar Nurmagomedov the defeat of his first career as mixed martial arts.