Having defeated Petr Yan in a potential contender fight, American Sean O’Malley has no doubt that his championship in the UFC bantamweight division is a matter of time.
“It’s inevitable,” O’Malley told a post-UFC 280 press conference. “I turn 28 on Sunday and I’m going to be in this sport for a very long time. People want me to be a champion and it will happen sooner or later.”
The American fighter believes that in the fight he answered some questions from critics who questioned his fighting qualities.
“Kick his legs off – that doesn’t work now. Now it sounds like, ‘you can’t just kick his legs and bring him down’. Peter hit me on the legs and took me down, and I still won. So yeah, I’m answering questions little by little.”
Teaming up with the Russian with the Fight of the Night bonus, O’Malley isn’t too happy with the number of punches he missed in the fight.
“I don’t want to miss so many hits anymore. This is fraught with health. Taking punches to the head and then suffering from a headache is very bad. Ideally, I should have come out and not missed a single blow, but on the other hand, this way the victory only becomes sweeter, because I showed my courage. I needed to dig deeper, to go where I hadn’t been physically and mentally, and that’s what happens when you fight the best guys in the world.”
Recall that the fight between Petr Yan and Sean O’Malley, which became the third most important event of the UFC 280 tournament, went through all three rounds and ended with the victory of the American by a split decision with a score of 29-28 twice and 28-29.
