The UFC is looking at a bantamweight clash between Sean O’Malley and Frankie Edgar.
According to MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani, the UFC is targeting a fight between O’Malley and the #8-ranked bantamweight contender Frankie Edgar on November 6th for Madison Square Garden. No official announcement has been made as of this writing.
If finalized, this would be a great stylistic matchup between the young, rising star in O’Malley versus the legendary former UFC lightweight champion Edgar. Predominantly throughout his career, O’Malley has fought against strikers. However, against Edgar, not only would he potentially face the biggest name on his résumé, but also someone who has the wrestling pedigree that could test O’Malley’s rather unproven ground game.
Recently, O’Malley did admit to turning down a fight on this same card, which put him at odds with a UFC matchmaker. This places very reasonable doubt on whether this fight will take place.
O’Malley is coming off a record-breaking win in which he landed 230 out of 318 significant strikes attempted against Kris Moutinho, which was the most all-time for a three-round fight in the UFC’s bantamweight division. O’Malley was eight significant strikes short of breaking the all-time record across all weight divisions, a record which Nate Diaz holds against Donald Cerrone where the Stockton native landed 238 out of 362 significant strikes at UFC 141 back in 2011.
As for Frankie Edgar, the former UFC lightweight champion was last seen in action against top bantamweight Cory Sandhagen back in February in what turned out to be a devastating loss for “The Answer.” Prior to the loss, Edgar was coming off a close, split decision win against Pedro Munhoz in his bantamweight debut.
Do you think this is the right fight for Sean O’Malley and Frankie Edgar at this point in their careers?
