If there is such a thing as a moral victory, Kris Moutinho earned on on Saturday night. Stepping into UFC 264 on short notice, Moutinho was a clear underdog against rising bantamweight superstar Sean O'Malley.
As the overwhelming betting favorite (-835), O'Malley was expected to smoke Moutinho, who was making his UFC debut. To his credit, O'Malley did connect with 230 significant strikes — the most ever landed in a single UFC bantamweight fight — he failed to put out the tough-as-nails Moutinho. It seemed whatever O'Malley threw at him, Moutinho ate and kept coming.
O'Malley was never really in danger at any point throughout the fight, but it was clear that Moutinho's constant pressure was starting to frustrate "The Suga Show." The conversation surrounding the fight started to shift towards the toughness of Moutinho who was ready to go the full distance between a questionable stoppage by referee Herb Dean at 4:33 of the final round.
His face already bloodied and bruised from 14 minutes of O'Malley's punishment, everyone in the T-Mobile Arena, including the announcers, were upset with the stoppage.
"Kris is a tough motherf---er," O'Malley said after the fight. "He took this fight on 11 days' notice when a lot of other UFC fighters wouldn't take this."
Although O'Malley praise Moutinho's toughness, he acknowledged that the stoppage might have saved him in the long run. "I was and I wasn't [surprised by the stoppage]. That's a lot of head damage from me," O'Malley said. "This might not be a good stoppage but it might have saved him [in the long run]."
Following the fight, O'Malley called out several fighters, including Cody Garbrandt, Petr Yan, and Dominick Cruz. Moutinho may not have won the fight, but he definitely earned some respect.
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