Sean O’Malley says Ilia Topuria will come back better for his UFC Freedom 250 loss but agreed with his coach Tim Welch that the defeat has stripped away the aura of invincibility that made Topuria’s opponents hesitant before they even entered the cage.
O’Malley spoke on One Night with Steiny following his own UFC Freedom 250 knockout win over Aiemann Zahabi.
I’m sure it is going to be humbling. I think Ilia is going to come back better than ever. He’s young still. He was going through some personal stuff, made it out the other side of it but it’s probably still lingering around. I think he’s going to come back. Justin f*cking humbled him, for sure.
Welch raised the concern that Topuria’s mystique is now permanently altered.
I also think, though, like he’s human now. So anyone who fights him now, they know that’s in him, they know it’s a possibility. And a big thing even with Ilia and these guys, before the losses, their opponents were almost scared in there. There’s this weird aura, this scary aura, like he’s going to f*ck everyone up. Now that got exposed a little bit, I think he’s not going to come back as just dominating.
O’Malley also compared Gaethje’s upset of Topuria to his own knockout of Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title.
Me beating Aljo is probably similar to Gaethje beating Ilia. Actually, me beating Aljo is probably even more of an upset I’d say.