Sean O’Malley is embracing the underdog function.
In September, O’Malley’s reign because the bantamweight champion got here to an finish after Merab Dvalishvili delivered a dominant five-round efficiency at UFC 306 to dethrone the colourful fan favourite. Now, ‘Sugar’ is again and decided to retake the 135-pound throne this Saturday evening once they run it again within the UFC 316 headliner in Newark, New Jersey.
Unsurprisingly, O’Malley is a sizeable underdog towards the defending champ, who’s favored 3-to-1 to maintain his bantamweight crown and go two up on the ex-champ.
Sean O’Malley would a lot moderately be the underdog than the favourite
With virtually everybody already counting him out within the rematch, O’Malley sees his return to the Octagon as a chance to show the naysayers improper and take again his title in highlight-reel style.
“I’m counted out closely this battle, similar to the Aljo battle. I’d moderately be on this place than everybody saying, ‘You’re going to smoke this dude.’ That will suck, as a result of combating is so unpredictable,” O’Malley stated throughout a current interview on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel. “I feel Merab has far more stress on him. Everybody’s like, ‘You beat him 9 months in the past, how’s he purported to beat you now?’ I do know I can beat Merab. I do know I’ll beat Merab. I get to go and show that to the world.”
UFC 316 shall be O’Malley’s first time competing contained in the Octagon since developing quick towards Dvalishvili late final yr.
As for Dvalishvili, ‘The Machine’ added one other spectacular win to his resume in January, handing Dagestani star Umar Nurmagomedov his first profession loss as a combined martial artist.