Sean O’Malley might be one of the most popular prospects in the UFC right now, but Raulian Paiva isn’t convinced. The two will face off at UFC 269, and Paiva believes that O’Malley’s marketing acumen will make a victory all the sweeter.
“O’Malley sells a lot, there’s a lot of marketing around him,” Paiva told MMAFighting.com. “So that’s even better for us, for my work, and to spread my name in this new division.”
Paiva Pledges to Submit “Wimp” O’Malley
Paiva went on to criticize O’Malley’s form, stating that despite his habit of stunning knockout victories, his loss against Marlon Vera showed far more about “Suga” Sean’s mentality than any of his wins.
“‘Thominhas’ [Almeida] was basically in the end of his UFC career, and [Kris Moutinho], who took the fight on short notice, was way lighter than him. [Moutinho] could take a beating, but was way inferior.
And he lost when he fought a top fighter. Marlon Vera is very experienced, has many fights in the UFC, he put pressure over him and that’s it. He wimped out, got desperate and that happened, he got TKO’d. There are fighters that only know how to hit but drop in performance when they are under pressure, and that’s what I see in O’Malley.”
It’s precisely this flaw in O’Malley’s game plan that Paiva plans to exploit. O’Malley’s similarity in this regard, as well as his ever-increasing profile outside of the Octagon, to another, more famous fighter, isn’t lost on Raulian Paiva.
“If you give him space he’ll do his thing, but he’ll start to get desperate and make mistakes more and more if you don’t give him space. That’s basically what I’ll do. I’ll make him make mistakes at his own game. I’m going there to pressure him from the first to the third round, if we get to the third round.
As a fighter, he likes to showboat like McGregor but his followers come from his YouTube channel. He’s cocky on social media and that gives him more followers, but not every follower actually likes his work as a MMA fighter! They like the stuff he does more than his actual work, which is fighting.
But he’s a young kid, a talented kid, and has everything to grow in the organization. But I also want to grow in the organization and in this new weight class and I won’t let him make his name over mine.
I can submit him if he gets desperate, but my hand can land because he keeps his hands low. But I believe it’s going to be via submission.”
Do you expect Paiva to secure a submission win over Sean O’Malley, or will the Suga Show find yet another knockout win? Let us know in the comments.
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