Ilia Topuria has turn into a celebrity since he gained the UFC featherweight title.
The identical will be mentioned for the bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley. Nevertheless, O’Malley’s superstardom arguably got here earlier than he was topped his division’s finest fighter, a label he additionally claimed earlier than Topuria.
A polarizing determine within the MMA area, “Sugar” is aware of tips on how to get the lots speaking, whether or not it is optimistic or damaging. O’Malley, 29, kicked off his title reign by rematching Marlon Vera at UFC 299 this previous Might, profitable the struggle in a powerful unanimous determination. Within the build-up, he spoke usually about hoping to have a champion vs. champion conflict with Topuria afterward. Topuria wasn’t but the champion when O’Malley first introduced the idea. “El Matador” finally made good on his title guarantees when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski one month earlier than O’Malley’s Vera protection.
O’Malley has since stored the Topuria discuss to a minimal. After seeing this previous week’s official UFC pound-for-pound rating replace, which has the No. 5-ranked Topuria one spot forward of him, O’Malley couldn’t assist himself.
“How the f*ck is Ilia above me on the pound-for-pound?” O’Malley requested on his YouTube channel. “He’s 5 inches shorter and has much less title defenses. These are simply info. I wasn’t making an attempt to be humorous [on Twitter], I used to be stating info and I received plenty of hate for it. They’re like, ‘He ought to be, he beat ‘Volk.’’ Buddy, I actually might give a f*ck much less the place I’m at on the pound-for-pound [list].”
Though both champions’ subsequent title defenses aren’t official, O’Malley and Topuria are anticipated to battle powerful opposition within the types of Merab Dvalishvili and Max Holloway. From O’Malley’s finish, he nonetheless has no replace on the potential bout’s standing, although he nonetheless hopes it occurs at Noche UFC in September.
In the meantime, Topuria and Holloway stay at a standstill of their struggle negotiations, having bantered lately on Twitter. Ought to the struggle occur as followers hope, O’Malley believes the BMF champion Holloway will begin his second featherweight title reign.
“Ilia’s gonna be the subsequent Cody Garbrandt,” O’Malley mentioned. “He gained his good little struggle he had, his little Dominick Cruz efficiency — he’s about to get pieced up by Max Holloway after which go downhill from there. Probably not. I really feel like Ilia is without doubt one of the most expert guys really within the UFC, however f*ck Ilia.”
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Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or discover one in every of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re presently actually into. I’ll decide the perfect one alongside my every day alternative and offer you a shoutout! You can even share within the feedback beneath — these are simply tougher to sift by way of generally!
Ranges, as they are saying.
Collab.
Hilarious.
Close to KO.
He by no means discovered.
Why not?
Kryptonite.
Assist wished.
Glory-us.
This rivalry is again within the information
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Abs.
I hate to say it, however there are some first rate comparisons to be made between Topuria and Garbrandt’s rises. Totally on paper and never as a lot talent or performance-wise. Nevertheless, I’d be shocked to see the same consequence for Topuria.
Thanks for studying!
Ballot
What number of occasions will Ilia Topuria efficiently defend his title?
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