Sean O’Malley has fired a shot across the bows at Canelo Alvarez as the pair prepare to go head-to-head at the box office in September.
The UFC bantamweight champion has taken aim at his boxing icon rival as they are both set to headline in Las Vegas on September 14; Mexican Independence Day. O’Malley faces Merab Dvalishvili at The Sphere, while Alvarez takes on Jaime Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena at the same time.
UFC 306 is the MMA star’s big night, with boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh even backing their efforts with a name sponsorship for Riyadh Season. The Saudi Arabian official has been behind some of the biggest fights of the last year in boxing, and now takes aim at one of the sport’s most iconic stars.
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Sean O’Malley claims he would ‘whoop Canelo Alvarez’ if the pair fought
Sean O’Malley is the champion tasked with headlining the UFC’s sole show at The Sphere, and taking on Canelo Alvarez at the box office. Both events have sold well in pre-sales, and are expected to be packed houses.
And now the UFC bantamweight champion is taking aim at his boxing rival, saying on his Timbo Suga Show podcast: “Headlining at The Sphere is f***ing incredible, but we’ve got competition. Canelo, T-Mobile, same night.
“The thing that’s annoying is it would be sweet if it was like Canelo vs Terence Crawford or, I don’t know any other boxers. But, like, who is Canelo fighting? Fighting the same night, which is good competition but UFC put so much money and so much work into The Sphere.
“I think The Sphere holds more people than T-Mobile is going to, I think it has around 18,000 and I’m pretty sure the cheapest tickets are like $3k. I think there’s no such thing as nosebleeds in the f***ing Sphere though, that’s the thing, there’s no such thing.
“But friendly competition against Canelo, Dana was not happy about that I saw he was like ‘these motherf***ers have been f***ing with me,’ So we just need to make it big, I need everybody behind me.”
He then added that “I would whoop Canelo’s a** in a fight. Boxing match, I would die, he might kill me. But in a fight? I would whoop his a**.”
Boxing boss Turki Alalshikh puts backing behind UFC 306 over Canelo Alvarez
Despite seemingly taking over boxing in the past year, Saudi Arabian adviser Turki Alalshikh is trying to take down one of the sport’s biggest stars on September 14. The Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in the Kingdom has been behind some of the sport’s biggest fights in an explosive year.
He is now slowly but surely moving from the Middle East to other major markets, with Riyadh Season events set for Los Angeles this weekend and London in September. And he has vowed to defeat Alvarez on Mexican Independence Day in Las Vegas.
UFC 306 has been officially branded Riyadh Season: Noche UFC, marking the first time the promotion have ever sold naming rights to one of their numbered events. Asked by ESPN how he plans to compete with PBC and Canelo, the Saudi chief replied: “We will eat him.”
Dana White takes aim at MGM amid UFC 306 and Canelo Alvarez head-to-head
In that same ESPN story, UFC CEO Dana White detailed how he has felt disrespected consistently by the MGM group, who own the T-Mobile Arena. Usually, this is the promotion’s home for major pay-per-views in Las Vegas, but the venue has been given instead to PBC for the big Canelo Alvarez fight.
“Canelo’s one of those guys that I respect and hey, good on [PBC boss Al] Haymon,” White said on Friday. “Haymon snatched that date right away from me. The guys at MGM have done nothing but f***ing disrespect me and the UFC for 20 years. It is what it is. Here we go.”
Now, he moves to the shiny new Sphere venue just off the Las Vegas strip. White is believed to have spent over $17million planning for the once-in-a-lifetime event, and cheapest tickets for the show will cost as much as $2,500.
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