Google News
The UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, seems to be interested in moving up to the featherweight division, but not when Alexander Volkanovski is around.O’Malley has set a lot of goals for his future; he wants to participate in a professional boxing match against Gervonta Davis or Ryan Garcia and can foresee it happening in the distant future.
O’Malley is ready to move up to the featherweight division; he isn’t scared of Alexander Volkanovski; O’Malley would rather wait for a year or two before fighting against him.The UFC have posted the full Suga Sean O'Malley knockout on social media with no Geo restrictions. They rarely do this especially for a title fight on a PPV. The magnitude of the moment.pic.twitter.com/rnmik0iZRj — Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) August 20, 2023
Sean O’Malley on fighting Alexander Volkanovski
In a recent interview with ThatWasEpic, Sean O’Malley explained why he wouldn’t enter the featherweight division anytime soon. “I would love to when Alexander Volkanovski is not the champ,” O’Malley said, as quoted by mmafighting.com.
“That *********** is pound-for-pound best in the world right now. “I wouldn’t say that [I wouldn’t fight him]. I mean, I’m confident I can knock anyone out. I feel like I can definitely knock Alexander Volkanovski out.
It’d be fricking very, very difficult. But I mean, maybe in a year or two if he’s still there, I would do it but I think he’s gonna move up to 155. So, it depends who’s champ”. Sean O’Malley is expected to make his first title defense by December; if not, he will defend his belt in 2024.
O’Malley has a wide list of options to pick from; he could face Marlon Vera next for the rematch. Aljamain Sterling could also be a potential opponent, but Sterling has requested to get some time to recover. As far as Volkanovski is concerned, he recently addressed that he is ready to fight Ilia Topuria.
However, there is a high chance for Volkanovski to wait till 2024 to face Islam Makhachev for the rematch.