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The MMA Daily: Say what?!? Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan in the works for UFC 280

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The MMA Daily: Say what?!? Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan in the works for UFC 280
Sean O'Malley at UFC 269 on December 11, 2021 (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

It seems that lingering questions around Sean O’Malley’s ability will soon be answered.

The 27-year-old star-in-the-making revealed on Wednesday’s segment of DC and RC that he’s slated to face former bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.

“I’m getting a fight that I wanted, and the fight that people wanted,” O’Malley told ESPN’s Ryan Clark.” I’m fighting Petr Yan on October 22nd in Abu Dhabi… I’m so excited for this, I almost can’t believe it’s real… In my eyes, Petr – well, he’s obviously the number one contender right now… He could be considered the champion…It’s the biggest fight in the bantamweight division right now. I think it’s bigger than Aljo vs TJ.”

‘Sugar’ is coming off a recent No Contest with Pedro Munhoz, while Yan’s last outing was a loss to current 135-pound champ Aljamain Sterling – they’ll both be looking for statement wins on an already stacked pay-per-view card, headlined by Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev.

The AllStar MMA roundup

  1. UFC London: Charles Johnson shrugs off Muhammad Mokaev trolls – “I’m gonna hurt this kid”
  2. UFC London: Charles Rosa wants to knock Nathaniel Wood ‘back down to bantamweight’
  3. Fight Or Flight: Keep up with John Hyon Ko’s journey as he trains to take an MMA fight

The best of the rest

  1. Cain Velasquez’s attorney files petition to California appellate court requesting release from jail – MMAJunkie.com
  2. Rafael Fiziev doubles down on callout of Justin Gaethje: ‘We need to find out who is the nose job’ king – MMAFighting.com
  3. ‘Pissed off’ Paddy Pimblett believes Jordan Leavitt’s ‘head is going to fall off’ at UFC London – MMAFighting.com
  4. Jack Hermansson had a ‘bad feeling’ Darren Till fight wouldn’t happen at UFC London – MMAJunkie.com
  5. Alexander Gustafsson says teammate Khamzat Chimaev will beat Nate Diaz up at UFC 279 – BloodyElbow.com

The soapbox

Paddy clarifies what it means to ‘teabag’ someone:

And doubles down on his threat:

https://twitter.com/theufcbaddy/status/1549822656597426176?s=20&t=mqy4Fqj9L9IJObdil71E9A

Khamzat with the disrespect:

T-wrecks makes a prediction:

Some good lads shout Mikey B a cheeky Nandos:

The morning view

Keep up with JHK’s journo to fighter journey:

The Weasle reacts to Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley:

Dan Hardy breaks down Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes:

Done deals

This week

On this day in MMA…

On the 21st of July, 2012, Renan Barão claimed the (interim) UFC Bantamweight title with a unanimous decision win over Urijah Faber in their first meeting at UFC 149.

Barao rode a legendary 28-fight unbeaten streak into the clash, and would win all but one round on two of the judge’s scorecards; the third deemed it a shutout with a 50-45 ruling.

Barao would defend the interim belt twice, before being awarded undisputed gold when the previous champ, Dominick Cruz, withdrew from their scheduled unification bout.

Renan Barao leaps toward Urijah Faber on July 21, 2012 (Photo by Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Chris Ferguson is a combat sports reporter hailing from the land down under in Australia. He runs short-format interviews with mixed martial arts prospects hailing from the Oceanic region, as well as a weekly newsletter on Substack, breaking down every debuting fighter on each coming weekend’s UFC card. Catch his hot takes on Twitter @CFerg_mma.

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