After winning the UFC bantamweight title, Sean O’Malley was issued a challenge by likely featherweight title contender Ilia Topuria, who also targeted featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski and commented on fellow Georgian fighter Merab Dvalishvili.
Roughly a week after Sean O’Malley clinched the UFC bantamweight title, he received future fight interest from Ilia Topuria, a prospective featherweight title challenger, wanting to join “The Sugar Show.” This comes immediately after the UFC Singapore event. During this thrilling tournament, Max Holloway managed to knock out The Korean Zombie in the main event. Post-match, Ilia Topuria passed his commentary on the bout before shifting focus to both the featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski and Sean O’Malley.
Topuria issued a somewhat harsh statement saying, “I respect these two [Holloway and Korean Zombie], but it’s time for them to retire.” He then targeted O’Malley, stating, “[O’Malley], keep rising up, and maybe one day we’ll share the octagon.” Topuria didn’t forget about the featherweight champion too, warning Volkanovski to prepare for defeat, “you [Volkanovski], get ready to tap out! The masterclass is coming for you.”
O’Malley, the new 135-pound titleholder who recently triumphed over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292, reacted promptly to Topuria’s dare. He responded, “I have risen. Your turn to rise up.” Topuria promptly answered this talkback, stating, “I see this fight as too easy of a challenge, I would like to find convincing reasons to face you, but at the moment, I can’t seem to find anything that captures my [attention].” He advised O’Malley to “Keep rising and let’s see if someday you deserve my time.” O’Malley knew well that Topuria’s probable next move is a face-off with Volkanovski for the title. O’Malley hinted that if Topuria does manage to upset one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on this planet, that would get his attention indeed.
While it seemed like both fighters exchanged everything they needed to, Topuria surprisingly switched gears when he brought up fellow Georgian fighter and top-ranked bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili. A seemingly cocky Topuria declared, “You [won’t] get passed [Merab] to come see me, so sit and wait like the good little dog you are.” Seemingly, there’s a lot of thrilling action expected down the lane!