Ricky Simon knows he probably won’t get his shot to face Sean O’Malley any time soon, but he understands what a big opportunity it would be for him.
Simon called for a fight with O’Malley once again following his impressive second-round submission win over the previously undefeated Jack Shore at UFC Long Island. O’Malley eventually landed a fight with Petr Yan, former UFC champion at UFC 280.. But prior to the booking, Simon was honest about his view on O’Malley’s place in the bantamweight division.
“It’s the biggest fight, with the most amount of eyes, and the least dangerous and easiest fight in my division, in my opinion,” Simon said. O’Malley is the best fight out of any -10. guys. He has a huge following, and that would make it entertaining for fans. He’s good at what he does, and I’m mean in there.”
Simon was then asked if O’Malley would be an easier fight than Shore, who entered the octagon at UFC Long Island with a perfect 16-0 record, and he doubled down.
“Oh, yeah [it’s an easier fight],’ Simon said. “Jack Shore was able to defend some of those takedowns. You see how skinny O’Malley’s hips are? Those freaking little skinny legs? I would wrap my arms around his legs and I’m going to carry him around just like I did Jack — who is a way better grappler — and I would slam him on his head so bad.”
O’Malley had his first big top-10 test at UFC 276 when he faced Pedro Munhoz. O’Malley accidentally poked his eye and O’Malley’s fight was declared a draw.
In Simon’s eyes, the fight — along with the result — was extremely disappointing.
” I think it was the way that I saw the fight because Sean is such a counterstriker, and has such a large reach advantage,” Simon said. “I thought Pedro might be able to kick his legs, and I thought he might be able to do more, but all he really did was leg strikes. Boring. It was a bit disappointing. It was my first big O’Malley test and I was most excited about it. It was kind of a boring, lackluster finish.
“I thought he lost the first round, and I think all the judges had it that way, as well.”
