Sean O’Malley will be facing Kris Moutinho at UFC 264, as the newcomer steps into the bout on roughly a week and a half’s notice.
A day after Sean O’Malley lost his original opponent Louis Smolka, reports have surfaced that “Suga” will now be facing newcomer Kris Moutinho. Making it official, O’Malley announced the news on Twitch. The announcement comes after several bantamweights including Ricky Simon and Merab Dvalishvili offered to face him on short notice.
Moutinho has primarily competed in the mid-west for CES and CFFC. He has a 9-4 record and is coming off back-to-back finishes. He most recently fought in May.
In an earlier Twitch stream, O’Malley had hinted that he would be facing Ricky Simon. Simon, who trains with Smolka, told Ariel Helwani that he was ready but felt he could only get as low as 140 pounds on short notice. Helwani went on to state that the UFC and O’Malley wanted the fight to stay at 135 pounds.
Quote from @RickySimonUFC on the O’Malley fight:
“I train with Smolka, so when he had to pull out I threw my name in the hat right away. I knew I could make 145 or even a catch weight and that’s what we offered.”
He said he felt comfortable getting as low as 140 at the moment.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 30, 2021
O’Malley is looking to build on his late March victory over Thomas Almeida where he won by third round TKO. The young prospect is best known as an alumnus of the original season of Dana White’s Contender Series who has collected five UFC victories in his four years with his company. This is taking into account his nearly two year hiatus between 2018 and 2020 due to recovery from surgery and failed drug tests.
UFC 264 is set to take place next week at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 10.
