UFC 301 is firmly behind us and the fans are already looking forward to what the promotion has planned for the near future. Notably, the UFC’s latest trip to Brazil saw Alexandre Pantoja defend his flyweight title against Steve Erceg. That said, a lot of attention is now falling on his long-running rivalry with UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley.
For those unaware, Alexandre Pantoja recently made the second defense of his flyweight title. Edging out Steve Erceg in a closely contested, controversial decision, some would suggest Pantoja got away by the skin of his teeth. Interestingly, in the build-up to the fight, Pantoja once again brought up the rumored sparring session between him and Sean O’Malley that took place around 2015.
By all means, Pantoja is vary of the numerous contenders in his division. However, at the same time, he sees a big opportunity in the fact that he is the flyweight champion and O’Malley is the bantamweight champion. When they initially sparred, neither fighter was in the UFC. That said, the topic has become hotly contested due to the fact that Pantoja claims he absolutely destroyed O’Malley whilst the latter claims to have finished Pantoja in the very first round.
What has been said about the sparring footage between Sean O’Malley and Alexandre Pantoja?
For the most part, the sparring session was initially brought up during the UFC 292 build-up and the back-and-forth between Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley. Seeing that O’Malley was contesting the bantamweight title against Aljamain Sterling, Cejudo sought to give some advice to Sterling whom he had previously lost to. Naturally, O’Malley had something to say about it, claiming that Henry’s advice never helped Alexandre Pantoja.
Thereafter, the first stories regarding the session came to light, with Sean claiming that he finished Pantoja in the first round, at a time when he had just turned pro. In his response, the Brazilian blasted O’Malley for not telling the whole story and how he had ‘destroyed’ the bantamweight champ.
That said, O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch recently shared his side of the story on the sparring saga:
“(He wasn’t) really in fight camp at all,” Welsh said on his YouTube channel. “Going to sparring to get a few rounds in and Henry (Cejudo) is like, ‘Hey, you want to spar this guy?’
“So, Sean says, ‘Yeah, I’ll spar him.’ They spar one round, Sean comes out on a rip, puts him (Pantoja) down. Puts him down in the first minute. Now, mind you, this is — I don’t even remember what year this is — I don’t even think Sean was a professional yet, he might have been a professional just breaking in.
“Sean comes out there, bounces around, young buck. Boom, hits him with a liver shot, puts him down. Pantoja has to stop, he has to wave it off, go over to Henry, kneel down, call it off. I mean there’s a video, never released video, but he puts him down.”
That said, Cejudo was supposedly disappointed with the outcome and had an out-of-shape O’Malley spar Pantoja for a few more rounds. Naturally, seeing that Alexandre was already in training camp for a fight, he was in much better shape than Sean. As a result, he went on to dominate the proceedings thereafter. As such, O’Malley has even admitted that he tapped to Pantoja at one point.
Is Sean O’Malley vs. Alexandre Pantoja the next big fight to make?
All things considered, Alexandre Pantoja believes that he got the better of Sean O’Malley in their sparring session. However, as O’Malley and even Tim Welch have reiterated, ‘Suga’ caught Pantoja with a brutal shot to the liver that put Pantoja down, effectively ending the fight in an actual contest. If by any chance the Brazilian did manage to firm the liver shot, he would have been on the receiving end of a nasty KO regardless.
Thus, Sean O’Malley, following UFC 301, caught wind of Pantoja’s statements regarding their sparring session. Initially, O’Malley fired back by posting a screenshot from the session, wherein he had just landed the liver kick, and had Pantoja taking a knee. Further, O’Malley made a dedicated video showing a bit of the footage from the sparring, which saw him taking down Pantoja.
Currently, it is expected that Sean O’Malley’s next fight will be against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada in September. In the meantime, Pantoja is set to take a break and let the division play out. Thus, it leaves room for a potential champ vs. champ matchup down the line. Although O’Malley has been calling for a shot at featherweight champ Ilia Topuria, a fight against Pantoja first could be even more beneficial.
