Sean O’Malley is aiming big for his next fight.
The bantamweight scored another win last weekend at UFC 250 and O’Malley is looking to challenge a name fighter. Enter Cody Garbrandt, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion who also got a stunning knockout win at UFC 250.
Speaking with ESPN, O’Malley doesn’t believe that Garbrandt would agree to a fight against him as it would be a lose-lose situation for him no matter the outcome:
“There is no way that he takes that fight,” O’Malley said. “There’s no way he takes that fight. It’s a lose-lose for him. One, he’s probably going to get knocked out. And two, he’s fighting someone that has a lot of hype, but if he beats me people will say, ‘Oh, but he’ … it’s a lose-lose for him, I feel like, so I’m sure they would avoid that fight.”
While the bantamweight is confident that he’ll knock out Garbrandt, O’Malley does acknowledge that the former Bantamweight champ is a skilled and dangerous opponent:
“One hundred percent I feel like I’d knock Cody out,” O’Malley said. “I mean, he looked more improved Saturday for sure. He looked like he was more calculated, more calm. He looked very much improved from his previous fights getting knocked out three times, so he did improve. I think he is high level. He’s a very, very dangerous opponent. Anyone that just throws bombs like that is dangerous, but I feel like I’m calculated enough, accurate enough and skill-wise enough to be able to knock him out, so that’s a win-win fight for me.”
Garbrandt hasn’t addressed whether he would fight O’Malley or not; however, the 28-year-old did take a minor shot at the rising prospect during an interview with TMZ (Transcript courtesy of BJPenn.com):
“[Assuncao is] leap years ahead of any adversary [O’Malley] has ever fought,” Garbrandt said after comparing his knockout to O’Malley’s. “Hats off to him. He did good, went out there and performed, got a knockout victory … but you can’t compare when you’re fighting the Top 5 in the world.
“[O’Malley has] never fought anybody in the Top 15, so that’s a huge difference when you’re able to starch people like that at each level,” Garbrandt added.