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Sean O’Malley may be only the #2 ranked fighter in the UFC bantamweight division but he knows greatness when he sees it.
Israel Adesanya the greatest champion in UFC history per Sean O’Malley
Sean O’Malley got to talking about UFC legends on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast and made no bones about who he thinks is the greatest UFC champion ever: MW champ Israel Adesanya.
“Izzy has been the best champ UFC’s ever seen. The amount of times he has fought consistently as a champion in the UFC is f*cking legendary. The level of competition (between that faced by Adesanya and that faced by Anderson Silva), I feel like is not even comparable.”
“Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland’s probably going to be next,” O’Malley said. (Cannonier) looked f*cking good against Marvin. He beat Sean Strickland but already lost to as Adesanya. I wonder if Jared’s like, ‘What the fuck?’ or you get the game and like, OK, Sean Strickland’s a f*cking character.
“If you’re the UFC, I don’t know if you want Sean Strickland as your UFC champion. His takes – him going on podcasts saying, ‘I crave killing people.’… Izzy vs. Strickland, I’m f*cking hyped for that. I will watch that, I’ll buy that, I’m excited for that. You wouldn’t watch that?”
Chael Sonnen concurs, putting Izzy past Jon Jones
O’Malley isn’t the only UFC star celebrating Adesanya these days. Chael Sonnen went on The MMA Hour and sang Izzy’s praises this week.
Jon Jones has never played that game,” continued Sonnen. “It’s going to be a mistake. Ten years from now, when you’re looking back and trying to tell the story, you’re not going to be saying Jon Jones. You’re going to be saying Adesanya.”
Sonnen went on to say that, though Jones’ sporting record is fantastic, he’s not on Adesanya’s level when it comes to making himself the biggest star possible in MMA and beyond.
“If Jon watched this piece right now, he wouldn’t know what I’m saying,” remarked Sonnon. “‘What is he saying? What is the fight business? What’s he talking about?’ He doesn’t even know, and there’s only four or five guys that know. But those are the guys. Those are the guys that matter. Those are the guys that move the needle.”
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