Las Vegas, NV — Ahead of his first five round fight, Sean O’Malley has changed things up a little in training camp.
For one, he started weeks earlier than normal. And he’s doing a little more, pushing a little harder, week in and week out. “Just the extra sparring, the extra sprints, the extra everything that goes into a title fight camp, it’s interesting. It’s fun.”
O’Malley (16-1, 1NC) is booked opposite bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling atop UFC 292 in Boston next month. Speaking backstage at Saturday’s UFC 290, the “Sugar Show” fighter brushed off a suggestion that he might have to fight Sterling twice.
While established champions often get an immediate rematch, “I know he said after this fight he’s going up to 45 regardless,” O’Malley noted. “So this is a risky fight for him. He could go up right now, being champ, and get that potential champ-champ fight. But he’s risking it because he knows he’s going to get paid. This is a big, big fight for him Pay-Per-View wise.”
“As far as beating him twice, there’s so many interesting guys in the division right now. I know [Deiveson] Figueiredo is fighting Dominick Cruz. So there’s some interesting fights around the corner. I’d say no. Go in there, get the job done, he goes up to 45, no one cares and then I keep fighting.”
It remains to be seen if anyone will care or not when Sterling moves up in weight — though champs making the move usually do get at least some attention. O’Malley, meanwhile, is the underdog in his first UFC title fight, but that does not come as a surprise to the Contender Series standout (and arguably the biggest star the show has ever produced).
“Not really. I mean look at who he’s beat. Look at the guys he’s beat in the last four, five fights. My best win is over Petr Yan, a very close fight, very tough fight. Looking at it like that, it makes sense. But that’s what Petr versus me was, the same odds or something. I think they were even worse at one point.”
“I like that. It fuels me,” O’Malley added. “It’s exciting to go in there and fight the best bantamweight in the world. I go out there and put his lights out, what does that make me?”
Watch the full UFC 290 media appearance by Sean O’Malley above.
