Last weekend was UFC 276 and The Suga Show didn’t go as planned. Sean O’Malley (15-1, 1 NC) made the walk to the octagon to take on the highest ranked opponent he had faced to date in Pedro Munhoz (19-7, 1 NC).
The fight didn’t start out well for O’Malley as he seemed to be hesitant to let his hands go. When he did, he was finding success. However, two of the judges gave the first round to Munhoz who unleashed a steady diet of leg kicks.
In the second round, O’Malley was finding a little more success, but still nothing major. Then, when Munhoz advanced on a blitz, O’Malley went to push him away with his hands. Unfortunately, O’Malley grazed the eye of Munhoz and caused a scratch to his cornea.
This injury stopped the fight and ended things in a No Contest. Not exactly what you wanted if you’re Sean O’Malley or the UFC. Now, there’s a lot of questions regarding what is next for O’Malley. Well, there is a storyline that came out of Saturday night that could materialize into a big fight.
Suga vs former two-division UFC champ?
After the fights, O’Malley was conducting an interview with BT Sport. During the interview, former two-division UFC champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo (16-2) called him out and said that he would love a tune-up fight against O’Malley.
You can view the exchange here. A confused O’Malley asked if Cejudo was actually ready to come back to fighting and Cejudo said yes. Cejudo entered the USADA pool earlier this year in anticipation of a UFC comeback.
The former champion is eligible to return in October. O’Malley then took to Twitter and asked for a fight against Cejudo in September at UFC 279. Of course, Cejudo isn’t eligible to compete at that time, but I think O’Malley didn’t realize that.
It’s an interesting fight for the UFC if they decide to make it. On one hand, if O’Malley were to defeat Cejudo, he could jump all the way into title contention. On the other hand, if Cejudo comes back and beats a star like O’Malley, he gets his recognition back and has his tune-up fight before a title shot.
Not sure if the promotion will move to book this one, but it’s one to watch.