Morning Report: Sean O’Malley says Ilia Topuria gets ‘pieced up’ by Max Holloway, jokes he’s next Cody Garbrandt

Ilia Topuria has develop into a famous person since he gained the UFC featherweight title.

The identical could be mentioned for the bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley. Nevertheless, O’Malley’s superstardom arguably got here earlier than he was topped his division’s greatest fighter, a label he additionally claimed earlier than Topuria.

A polarizing determine within the MMA area, “Sugar” is aware of methods to get the lots speaking, whether or not it is optimistic or adverse. O’Malley, 29, kicked off his title reign by rematching Marlon Vera at UFC 299 this previous Might, successful the battle in a formidable unanimous determination. Within the build-up, he spoke usually about hoping to have a champion vs. champion conflict with Topuria afterward. Topuria wasn’t but the champion when O’Malley first offered the idea. “El Matador” finally made good on his title guarantees when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski one month earlier than O’Malley’s Vera protection.

O’Malley has since stored the Topuria speak to a minimal. After seeing this previous week’s official UFC pound-for-pound rating replace, which has the No. 5-ranked Topuria one spot forward of him, O’Malley couldn’t assist himself.

“How the f*ck is Ilia above me on the pound-for-pound?” O’Malley requested on his YouTube channel. “He’s 5 inches shorter and has much less title defenses. These are simply info. I wasn’t making an attempt to be humorous [on Twitter], I used to be stating info and I acquired loads of hate for it. They’re like, ‘He needs to be, he beat ‘Volk.’’ Buddy, I actually may give a f*ck much less the place I’m at on the pound-for-pound [list].”

Though both champions’ subsequent title defenses aren’t official, O’Malley and Topuria are anticipated to battle robust opposition within the types of Merab Dvalishvili and Max Holloway. From O’Malley’s finish, he nonetheless has no replace on the potential bout’s standing, although he nonetheless hopes it occurs at Noche UFC in September.

In the meantime, Topuria and Holloway stay at a standstill of their battle negotiations, having bantered not too long ago on Twitter. Ought to the battle occur as followers hope, O’Malley believes the BMF champion Holloway will begin his second featherweight title reign.

“Ilia’s gonna be the subsequent Cody Garbrandt,” O’Malley mentioned. “He gained his good little battle he had, his little Dominick Cruz efficiency — he’s about to get pieced up by Max Holloway after which go downhill from there. Not likely. I really feel like Ilia is among the most expert guys really within the UFC, however f*ck Ilia.”

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The MMA Hour.

Free battle.

Prep for CJI.

Jinjer doesn’t mess around.

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or discover considered one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re at present actually into. I’ll decide the very best one alongside my every day selection and provide you with a shoutout! You too can share within the feedback under — these are simply more durable to sift by means of generally!

Ranges, as they are saying.

Collab.

Hilarious.

Close to KO.

He by no means realized.

Why not?

Kryptonite.

Assist wished.

Glory-us.

Abs.

I hate to say it, however there are some first rate comparisons to be made between Topuria and Garbrandt’s rises. Totally on paper and never as a lot talent or performance-wise. Nevertheless, I’d be shocked to see an analogous end result for Topuria.

Thanks for studying!

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