Sean O’Malley added another name to his hit list on his believed route to becoming one of the best to ever do it. O’Malley took to Demterious Johnson’s podcast to mention his aspirations of defeating UFC featherweight, Ilia Topuria.
“Ilia [Topuria] just has that face that I would love to f****** knee him right up the middle and break his little nose. So that’s that. I’ll probably head out to California and watch that fight, Ilia vs. Volk. It’s going to be a f****** sick fight,” O’Malley said on the MightyCast podcast.
While O’Malley, known for his brash personality, dished out some trash talk, he also praised Topuria’s skillset inside the Octagon.
“When I think of some of the most skilled fighters that I’ve ever watched, Ilia’s up there. Ilia is f****** dangerous. He’s one of the best all-around martial artists, he’s so f****** skilled. So it’s nothing like I don’t think he sucks. I think he’s very, very f****** dangerous. But I also think I’ll put his lights out, so it’s a nice little mix,” O’Malley told Johnson.
UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley Wants to Fight Ilia Topuira
While on paper this fight would see two of the sport’s biggest stars in a champion vs champion scenario, a lot needs to go right for both men for this to even be an option. The first piece of the puzzle will be up to Topuria to complete when he faces off against the UFC featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski. The two will fight at UFC 298 on Feb.17 in Anaheim, California. ‘El Matador’ has been confident that he will make easy work of Volkanovski when the two finally face off and remain undefeated inside the UFC and in his professional career.
‘Suga’ also has an important title fight to pay attention to before moving on to a potential superfight with the Georgian featherweight. O’Malley will look to avenge his only professional loss when he rematches Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera on Mar. 9 at UFC 299. Despite opening as an early favorite, Vera has been the lone man to defeat O’Malley in the cage. The fight famously stopped due to a leg lick from Vera that essentially shut off O’Malley’s leg. From there Vera finished the fight via TKO.
Both men have tough fights ahead of them, but have been confident about their belief to make easy work of both their opponents.
Trash Talk Between Both Men
Topuria in recent times has used his media time to bash a lot of fighters, O’Malley being no exception. ‘Suga’ addressed the criticism thrown his way from Topuria.
“I see you thinking I smoke and I do all that stuff – which isn’t bad, that’s kind of the persona I put off – but like I said, I don’t think there’s very many people that are dialed as I am, and I don’t really show that as much, and maybe I do transition and kind of start showing that because I’m chasing greatness,” O’Malley continued on the MightyCast podcast.
O’Malley concluded his thoughts on the subject with an ode to becoming the greatest of all time.
“I want to be with the greatest of all-time. I want to defend this belt. I want to go knock out Ilia if he wins. I want to beat the guys that they say I can’t beat and stay dialed. I’m 29 right now, so I’ve got four, five, six more years depending on the injuries and how things go. I’ve wanted to be the greatest since I started, but building that ‘Sugar’ brand, it almost looks like I don’t take it seriously as I do and I don’t think people see that as much.” O’Malley concluded.
With Topuria publicly stating that he will not allow Max Holloway, Volkanovski, Yair Rodriguez and many more a shot at the title when he wins, could Topuria and O’Malley both be looking to fight each other next?
Do you want to see a fight between Sean O’Malley and Illia Topuira? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Image
