Henry Cejudo thinks that Sean O’Malley is overrated.
The former UFC Bantamweight and Featherweight Champion is currently enjoying retirement; however, that doesn’t mean that Cejudo doesn’t still keep tabs on the UFC.
Since O’Malley made his return to the promotion back in 2020, the bantamweight fighter has been making waves within the division thanks to his devastating knockouts to José Alberto Quiñónez and Eddie Wineland.
Even before his suspensions following his bout against Andre Soukhamthath at UFC 222, many pegged O’Malley as the future star of the sport; however, Cejudo thinks otherwise. Speaking on ESPN’s “Now or Never”, the former UFC fighter explains why he views O’Malley as an overrated fighter:
“I think Sean O’Malley is completely overrated,” Cejudo told ESPN’s “Now or Never”. “He hasn’t fought nobody. They haven’t put him up against a wrestler. Every time they ask Sean O’Malley who do you want next, ‘I want another striker.’ You know what that tells me as a competitor? That this dude does not want any smoke up against the cage. This dude doesn’t train with people that can grind him. If I was to ever fight him, I would hurt him. I would grind him out, I would keep him for like maybe three to four rounds and just hurt him.
“I’m not going to strike with him because I will give him some credit. He does understand distance and is very precise, but that’s about it. Put him up against a minor league wrestler – a minor leaguer, I’m telling you, and we’ll see how good he really is.”
Several days prior, O’Malley gave his views on why Cejudo decided to walk away from the sport and well, the bantamweight doesn’t hesitate to take shots at the former two-division champion (Transcript courtesy of The Sports Rush):
“I think I have the reason that he retired. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s just what I heard. I don’t know if I’m disappointed that he retired. I don’t know if I’m on top, in my peak, I don’t know if I could retire. I almost feel like I’d rather lose than just retire then say, ‘I’m in the best in the world, I’m done.’
“I don’t know, who knows. I think he’ll be back. I think he just found his first girlfriend and he’s just kind of, he doesn’t know what to do. Because if you’ve never had a girlfriend before and then you have one and you’re like 30-something, I don’t know, they like, take over.”