O’Malley has garnered much of the promotion due to his breakout performance on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. However, Soukhamthath sees right through the whole facade. Come tonight, Soukhamthath sees another disappointing night for the UFC’s marketing machine.
“Sean’s got a lot of hype behind him, he’s got a lot of followers, and the UFC obviously loves him,” Soukhamthath said Thursday at UFC 222 media day. “But stylistically, he knows that he’s in trouble. The real MMA fans know that I’m a bad matchup for him.”
A 29-year-old Rhode Island native, and the first UFC fighter of Lao descent, don’t be fooled by Soukhamthath’s 1-2 record inside the Octagon. The two losses stem from incredibly close split decisions. Soukhamthath very well could’ve been 3-0 if a few scorecards had swung his way, but he proved he belonged anyway last December in a do-or-die match at UFC Frenso when he scored a exciting knockout over top prospect Luke Sanders — a teammate of O’Malley’s at The MMA Lab. That performance was much more akin to the murderous run he shred across the regional northeast scene that carried him into the UFC.
When he looks at O’Malley, he isn’t sure the 23-year-old has it.
“The Contender Series, when there’s 50 people in the room, it’s easy to get Dana White’s attention, Sean Shelby’s attention, Mick Maynard’s attention,” Soukhamthath said. “And he fluffed it. He won his fight, he did win his fight, and he started talking, and like I said, it’s easy to get their attention — and he definitely got their attention. He got Snoop Dogg’s attention. And I think that’s just how all the bandwagoners started jumping on the O’Malley bandwagon, and that’s how he kind of blew up. And the UFC sees that.
“But the difference between me and him is that I have a lot of followers too, I have a lot of fans too, and my fans are real MMA fans and my fans are real people that have love for me. His fans, they don’t care about him. In this sport right now, a lot of people are being fake. They’re trying to be the cool guy, the tough guy, the guy that talks down on people, that talks crap. You know what, Conor McGregor did that already and he’s made millions and millions of dollars with it. But honestly, the real MMA fans are sick of it. The athletes here, a lot of us are sick of it. It’s time for the real to come up. It’s time for the real to come out.”
Soukhamthath admits that he’s a fan of O’Malley’s as well, regardless of the differences between their UFC runs. He considers O’Malley a top tier entertainer, but that won’t stop him from doing what he needs to do once the time comes at UFC 222.
“You know what, he’s a great fighter,” Soukhamthath said. “He’s very flashy, he’s entertaining. I enjoy watching him. He’s got great kicks, he’s got great boxing, he’s got good cardio. I thought that he kept his poise pretty well in his first UFC match, so I have nothing bad to say about the kid.
“I’m just saying, I’m more experienced. He’s going to fight a real man this time, a real fighter, a guy who will fight anyone, anywhere, any time. So we’ll see how he does with that. If he thinks he can handle that, then good for him. If not, he’s going to sleep.”