Move over Dominick Cruz, Sean O’Malley has now decided to set his sights on another former bantamweight champion in Petr Yan.
Despite his epic blunder at UFC 259, many people still consider Petr Yan to be the uncrowned champion of the UFC’s bantamweight division. Yan was ahead of his fight against Aljamain Sterling at this event until he inconceivably decided to knee the downed Sterling full go in the face late in the fourth round. Because of this blunder, Yan is left waiting for Sterling to return from neck surgery for the rematch to take place later this year.
Instead of sitting on the sidelines, stewing and brooding over his newfound status in limbo, Petr Yan has been sent an invitation to appear on The Suga Show.
“Hey @PetrYanUFC what are you doing in July brotha? Wana (sic) beat me up while you wait for your rematch?” O’Malley wrote.
Sean O’Malley is currently unranked while Yan is ranked #1 in the division. With this literally being the biggest separation possible between fighters from a rankings standpoint, it’s not out of the question that the callout was made in jest. However, O’Malley has made it clear that he sees himself as one of the biggest names in the division, so it is reasonable to take the callout at face value and a simple case of the lanky athlete shooting his shot.
Even if Yan were to express interest in this pairing, it’s hard to imagine it coming together. Similar to Darren Till and Mike Perry, two fighters agreeing to fight and the UFC finding logic in making the fight are two different things.
Sean O’Malley most recently defeated Thomas Almeida via KO at UFC 260, earning him Performance of the Night honors. After the fight, the only man to defeat O’Malley, Marlon Vera, has recently stated that “Suga” Sean has rejected a rematch offered by the UFC. This may very well be true, as between this callout of Petr Yan and last weekend’s callout of Dominick Cruz, it looks like O’Malley is trying to hunt bigger game after his latest kill.
Do you think it is remotely possible that a fight between Petr Yan and Sean O’Malley is booked next?
