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UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley isn’t shy on confidence.
It’s one of the reasons O’Malley sits atop his division and was able to pull what most saw as a significant upset over former champ Aljamain Sterling to win the title.
But there is one UFC star that he says he doesn’t look forward to fighting anytime soon.
That man is current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“I would love to when Alexander Volkanovski is not the champ,” O’Malley told ThatWasEpic about a potential move up to 145 pounds. “That mother f***** 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 (and) 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.”
It’s hard to blame O’Malley. Volkanovski’s lone UFC loss is a close decision in a super fight with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev up at 155 pounds.
He’s 13-0 in the featherweight division and coming off of a brutal knockout victory over Yair Rodriguez to unify the featherweight title.
But it’s a surprisingly humble admission from the often brash O’Malley.
Though that may just be the new trend for UFC champs. Heavyweight champion Jon Jones recently admitted to his fear of former champ Francis Ngannou.
“I’m not going to lie though, knowing that I was fighting Ciryl Gane instead of Francis was kind of nice,” Jones said. “Francis is a scary joker.”
Game recognize game.
O’Malley has his own business to focus on first. It looks like he’ll have to defend his bantamweight title against either Sterling in a rematch, or Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, who handed him his lone loss in the UFC.