Sean O’Malley is back and he is back with a bang. After a disappointing loss against Marlon Vera in his last fight it was O’Malley who needed to make a statement at UFC 260. And the Suga show did not disappoint this time at UFC 260.
The rising star of the UFC bantamweight division, Sean O’Malley took on the veteran, Thomas Almeida in the main card of UFC 260. From the get-go, O’Malley seemed the better fighter and things did not change as the fight progressed.
Sean O’Malley showed some incredible speed and accuracy against Almeida who has numerous KO finishes in his resume. The reach advantage of O’Malley certainly helped him as Almeida was missing the target on many occasions.
After 3 rounds of domination, Sean O’Malley finished the fight at 3:52 mins of 3rd round. Though O’Malley proved the critics wrong with an emphatic win a certain decision of his inside the octagon did get him some criticism.
Michael Chandler, Darren Till and many UFC fighters react to highlight reel KO of Sean O’Malley
Sean O’Malley made one big mistake at UFC 260
Sean O’Malley could have finished the fight in the first round. He had Almeida down and hurt after a beautiful combination. But, instead of jumping on Almeida to get the finish, O’Malley decided to create another walk-off KO and missed an opportunity to finish the fight early.
In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Sean O’Malley looked back at his mistake and said:
“I thought so. I was going for another. I thought he was done. he is tough. That dude is legit. Potentially. I want sweeteners. I need 15 minutes to perform maybe a couple of times in a year. When I get in there I got to do something sweet.”
After his loss to Marlo Vera, many fans and critics raised questions about the toughness of O’Malley. He was even mocked by the fans for not accepting the loss to Vera as a real loss. But, with a vicious KO win over Thomas Almeida, it’s safe to say that O’Malley has shut down all the critics. O’Malley stated: “I got to prove to a lot of stupid people that they are stupid.”