UFC 250: Sean O’Malley looks for another ‘viral knockout’ and says he is ‘taking hype away’ from Cody Garbrandt and Aljamain Sterling
- ‘Sugar’ says his match-up with Wineland this weekend in Las Vegas is stylistically ‘perfect’ for a ‘heavy knockout’
- O’Malley: ‘it’s not just the crazy hair and tattoos – I have legitimately high-level MMA skills’
UFC bantamweight prospect Sean O’Malley hopes to extend his streak of “viral knockouts” against veteran Eddie Wineland at UFC 250 at the Apex Centre in Las Vegas Saturday.
The 25-year-old O’Malley (11-0) – sporting a fresh rainbow-coloured died afro – explained that American counterpart Wineland’s (24-13-1) fight style welcomes a KO or TKO.
“I feel like is gonna be a perfect match-up for something like [a viral knockout], said “Sugar” O’Malley at the UFC virtual media day on Thursday, referring to his previous comments about his first-round “viral knockouts” over Mexican Jose Alberto Quinones in March and Armenian Alfred Khashakyan in Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017.
“His hands are low, he’s a brawler, he’s not gonna come out and try to lay on me. The cage is small so he’s probably going to try and get started right away and be aggressive ... whether he comes forward – heavy knockout – or if he lets me push him backwards, he’ll get knocked out. It works out perfectly.”
Prior to his winning return against Quinones, O’Malley had been suspended by the US Anti-Doping Agency for testing positive for the banned substance ostarine. The nine-month retroactive suspension lasted until February.
Per MMA Fighting, O’Malley had also accepted a six-month suspension for failing a drugs test that was linked to bad supplements. The Nevada State Athletic Commission also suspended him for six months.