Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt slammed Sean O’Malley over his recent taunts following UFC Atlanta.
Sean O’Malley is in a peculiar spot in his UFC career after suffering a second loss to UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316. Despite speculation that O’Malley could move to the featherweight division after UFC 316, O’Malley seems content on continuing to contend at 135 lbs despite the brutal weight cut.
If O’Malley remains set on contending in the bantamweight division, he has a long-standing adversary waiting to welcome him back to the Octagon.
Cody Garbrandt explodes on Sean O’Malley after latest taunts after UFC Atlanta
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt went off on O’Malley after mocking his UFC Atlanta performance.
“I would love to f*** him up,” Garbrandt said.
“He just always talks s***. I think he has an infatuation with me. He’s so jealous of me and I can’t believe he became a world champion. He can’t wrestle for a lick, can’t defend a takedown. I mean, Merab straight bullied him. But he’s been calling me out forever, so I’ve been ready to fight that dude. I’ve got what it takes, I know how to beat this dude.”
Garbrandt then shared he’s pleaded with Dana White and the matchmakers to fight O’Malley for years.
“The way that I fight, it’ll be a bad night for him,” Garbrandt continued. “But that’s up to the UFC. I’ve tagged [UFC CEO Dana White], I tagged him in it. If that’s the next fight [matchmakers] want to do, I think that’s going to be a great pay-per-view fight, good drawing. He’s got a good fanbase, but they’re younger, you know, the Twitch people, the video games, but I’m a dog. I would love that fight.”
O’Malley and Garbrandt have traded barbs for years, stemming from their near-brawl at the UFC 269 pre-fight press conference in 2021. After Garbrandt suffered a loss to Raoni Barcelos at UFC Atlanta last month, O’Malley sarcastically labeled his performance an ‘eye opener’ and mocked the likeness of his hairstyle.
Garbrandt is outside of the bantamweight Top 15 following his loss to Barcelos and has lost four of his last six fights overall. Before UFC Atlanta, Garbrandt hadn’t fought since a submission defeat to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 300.
Sean O’Malley shared a hilarious reaction to Ilia Topuria’s UFC 317 title win
As O’Malley and Garbrandt continue to go back-and-forth, O’Malley had one of the most notable reactions to Ilia Topuria’s lightweight title win at UFC 317. Almost a full year after calling out Topuria, O’Malley hilariously backtracked on the previously desired fight and thanked Topuria for not accepting the callout.
In the meantime, rising star Vinicius Oliveira called out O’Malley for a fight following his dominant win at UFC 318 last weekend. Oliveira defeated Kyler Phillips by unanimous decision.
O’Malley has plenty of options for his UFC comeback plans, and it could be a matter of time until we get some clarity on the former champ’s next move.
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