UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley forced his way into the title conversation with a split decision victory over former champ and no.1 ranked contender Petr Yan at UFC 280. With another former champion, Henry Cejudo, threatening to come for the belt, O’Malley has dismissed “Triple C” and his ability to draw pay-per-views in a recent episode of The MMA Hour.
“I really am the money fight as far as if we’re trying to sell pay-per-views. I’ll obviously do five times whatever Henry would do. But then again, it’s like, I want to sit down and renegotiate my contract too, because I’ve been on a lot of big pay-per-views and I know where I stand as far as selling pay-per-views. So I’m going to sit down with them and hopefully, yeah, come to something we both agree upon.”
O’Malley on Cejudo: “I’ll Obviously Do Five Times Whatever Henry Would Do”
O’Malley, one of the most popular names on the roster, continued, pointing out that Henry Cejudo is far from a major draw compared to him.
“I can’t imagine [the UFC] wanting that, ‘Aljo’ vs. Henry. Like, does anybody really want that? I don’t really see them being like, ‘Oh, we want this. It’s big. This will get a couple more people watching the fight.’ I don’t think that’s something they want. Maybe that’s something they just kind of put together just to fill a spot.
I heard from someone close to Henry that he’s got like $37 in the bank and he’s literally just trying to do anything to get some money, trying to book a fight.
So I don’t know, Henry’s an opening-the-main-card, co-main event kind of dude. So I don’t know. Even if him and ‘Aljo’ go fight, they’ll probably be some co-main event on some card. It’s just hard to say — it feels like every time we talk about this guy, it’s like, is he actually coming back?”
O’Malley made the case that, with the Yan victory under his belt and his pay-per-view numbers rising, he should be next in line to face the champ, Aljamain Sterling. “‘Aljo’ is a tough, tough, tough fight. It’s probably the toughest fight in the division.
Obviously he’s the champ. I believe in my skill set, and I think we’ve just got to go to a dark place. Go where we were with Petr and that’s where we beat them. But I also could drop him early and I’ll always say that against anybody I fight.
If it’s June, July, give me [the fight]. I’m ready to get back to work. I’m pretty much healed up. I think next week I’ll be able to get back to work and just grind, just grapple, grapple, grapple, do what I’ve been doing the last five, six years, just grinding on the grappling. ‘Aljo,’ obviously that’s where he excels — he wants to take you down and take you back and choke you out. So yeah, I think June, July, ‘The Sugar Show’ vs. ‘Aljo,’ it could be a thing.”
