Ilia Topuria was thoroughly impressed by Sean O’Malley’s commanding performance against Marlon Vera at UFC 299. However, Topuria firmly believes that the bantamweight champion still has another significant challenge to overcome before considering a move up to contend for the 145-pound title.
O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight belt with a unanimous decision victory on Saturday night in Miami, securing a clean sweep on the scorecards. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he expressed his desire for a bout against Topuria as his preferred option.
Nevertheless, O’Malley also acknowledged that if the UFC favored him defending his 135-pound title against the No. 1 contender, Merab Dvalishvili, he would be willing to accept that decision.
Topuria wasted no time in responding to O’Malley’s callout, taking to Twitter to express his thoughts on the matter.
“Suga, congrats… was a beautiful performance,” Topuria tweeted. “There is a fight chasing you with Merab. Get that done first.”
Topuria clinched the UFC featherweight title in spectacular fashion, delivering a second-round finish of longtime champion Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 298 in February. Both the new champ and UFC CEO Dana White are optimistic about Topuria’s maiden title defense taking place in Spain later this year.
However, despite the anticipation, White mentioned after Saturday’s event that there is currently no official timeline for the promotion’s inaugural visit to the region.
