Sean O’Malley recently praised Sean Strickland for his impressive victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 302.
The fight took place on Saturday, June 1st, where Strickland (29-6 MMA) managed to edge out Costa (14-4 MMA) in a closely contested co-main middleweight bout, winning by split decision.
This win is particularly significant for Strickland, who was looking to bounce back after losing his middleweight title to Dricus Du Plessis (21-2 MMA) in January at UFC 297, also by split decision. With this victory, Strickland is now back on track and is aiming for another shot at the title.
In a recent episode of the ‘TimboSugarShow’, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley shared his thoughts on Strickland’s performance. O’Malley was clearly impressed by the way Strickland handled the fight against Costa.
Sean O’Malley Praises Sean Strickland for Clean Performance
“His style is so sweet. He’s primarily orthodox but he’ll march at you checking kicks into southpaw, throwing teeps from both stances. His eyes are so good, he’s hard to hit on his chin, unless you’re Alex Pereira he hit him on his chin, but yeah that would be a nightmare fight. You could tell at the end of like going to the end of the first round you’re like, this isn’t good. This is not looking good for Costa.”
O’Malley is correct, Costa’s recent performance has been less than stellar as of late. He now has four defeats in his last five fights. His recent losses include bouts against top fighters such as Sean Strickland, Robert Whittaker (25-7 MMA), Marvin Vettori (19-7 MMA), and Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA). His only victory in this period came against Luke Rockhold.
Costa’s decline in performance raises questions about his future in the middleweight division. Once considered a formidable contender, he now finds himself in a challenging position, needing to reassess and potentially overhaul his approach to get back to winning ways.
Do you think Paulo Costa can get back to title contention? Will Sean Strickland be next in line for the title following UFC 302 win? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
