Sean O’Malley backs himself for title shot in ‘early 2023’ after ‘two more finishes’ as exciting bantamweight prospect eyes Marlon Vera rematch after Pedro Munhoz clash at UFC 276
- Sean O’Malley has long been considered one of the top bantamweight prospects
- He is set to take on Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 in what should be stern test
- ‘Two more finishes — early 2023, I’m fighting for the belt’, O’Malley said
Sean O’Malley believes he is two impressive wins from fighting for the UFC bantamweight title.
The rising star is tipped by many as a top prospect in the division and his entertaining style has captured the attention of fans.
‘Suga’ is due to face Pedro Munhoz in one of his most high profile match-ups to date at UFC 276 in July and believes victory would elevate him into the top 10.
Sean O’Malley is backing himself for a title shot early next year with two more finishes
‘Two more finishes — early 2023, I’m fighting for the belt, whoever has it,’ he said on the MMA Hour.
‘I think after this fight, I go out there, I’ve got to finish Pedro — and I go out there, let’s say I finish Pedro, I get a top-5 guy, whoever that is.
‘Depending on if ‘Chito’ gets a fight booked, I know that’s a fight that I want.’
O’Malley’s only professional defeat came against the Ecuadorian fighter having suffered a foot injury.
O’Malley is popular among fans and tipped as one of the best prospects in the division
The 27-year-old is a brilliant striker and has finished five of his eight fights in the UFC
The 27-year-old added: ‘I don’t know if he’s going to get a fight booked. I’m assuming. He seemed like he wants to fight again. If he goes out there and wins, that could be another fight, maybe December time frame.
‘We’ll see. I was kind of hoping Rob [Font] would win that fight, because I wanted to fight Rob, but he didn’t obviously. So yeah, I think Pedro, depending on if ‘Chito’ goes out there and beats someone in the top five, he probably can get a title shot.
‘If he doesn’t end up getting a fight, I would like to finish Pedro and get that fight, and we’ll see.’
Marlon Vera is the only man to have beaten O’Malley so far in his professional MMA career
Vera has won his last three and is building the kind of momentum O’Malley wants to match to elevate interest in a potential rematch.
‘This is kind of what I expected. Not expected — I didn’t know if he was going to be able to go and win these fights,’ he went on.
‘But this is what I was imagining if we did get a rematch, that we were both going to keep winning and winning and winning and then get there.’