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Sean O’Malley won’t share the pay-per-view marquee with anyone when he returns to defend his UFC bantamweight title for the first time.
Following a stunning second-round knockout of Aljamain Sterling this past August, O’Malley quickly turned his attention toward a potential rematch with Chito Vera and welcomed a clash in December. Vera is the only fighter to beat O’Malley in his MMA career.
However, O’Malley soon learned that while the Vera matchup was still on the table, it might not take place until 2024.
“I really, really did truly want to fight in December,” O’Malley explained on JRE MMA Show. “Like when I called out Chito in December, but I talked to UFC and they kind of already had [plans]. They were trying to get Colby [Covington] and Leon [Edwards] together.
“I asked them — they want me to main event my own show, which I think it’s f****** dope. I’m down with that.”
O’Malley’s title fight with Sterling was his first UFC main event. The 28-year-old bantamweight champion has quickly become one of the most talked-about and popular fighters on the entire roster.
While O’Malley appears ready to headline another pay-per-view, he doesn’t expect that to come on a card where he’ll share the spotlight with another UFC champion. So that eliminates the ideal landing spot for his next fight.
“I think UFC 300 is in April,” O’Malley said. “That would be a sweet card to be on, but again, they’re not going [to want me as main event]. I’m going to guess [I’ll fight again] before that, before UFC 300.”
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski recently proposed January for his next fight, but the promotion hasn’t announced any plans for the new year just yet.
O’Malley is chomping at the bit to defend his belt, and he still views Vera as the opponent he wants most for that fight.
“I’m really hoping [the UFC] f****** just say ‘let’s f****** do it,’” O’Malley said about the Vera fight.
“I’ve still got to go out there and prove it. I think once you become champ, it’s like are you champ? You’ve got to go defend the belt. You’ve got to defend the f****** belt, so I’m looking forward to that.”
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