Former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz showed interest in fighting Sean O’Malley and now it seems we might be getting it as O’Malley has accepted Cruz’s callout.
O’Malley knocked out Thomas Almeida in brutal fashion in the third round of their UFC 260 main card fight, and it was the kind of high-profile win on a big card that surely did catch the attention of the top-15 fighters at 135lbs.
According to ESPN analyst and podcast host Chael Sonnen, who revealed to Michael Bisping live on air that he had just received a text message from Cruz in which ‘The Dominator’ called out ‘Suga’ following his stunning KO victory over Thomas Almeida at UFC 260.
“I believe Dominick Cruz just heard our piece and told me to throw his name into the O’Malley mix,” Sonnen told Bisping during the UFC 260 post-fight show.
“Dominick Cruz vs. Sean O’Malley, take my money, please,” Bisping responded.
That’s when Sonnen, confirmed Cruz’s interest in the matchup.
While live on the #UFC260 post show, @ChaelSonnen received a text from @DominickCruz saying he's interested in fighting Sean O'Malley 👀 pic.twitter.com/6AvBwdWJyD
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 28, 2021
Bisping went on to explain why it is a tremendous fight for O’Malley.
“That is a fight that needs to happen,” Bisping, the former UFC middleweight champion, said. “That is a tremendous matchup for Sean O’Malley because that would raise his profile. And for Dominick Cruz, that’s beating a contender, that gets him back to a title shot”.
Sean O’Malley accepts challenge from Dominick Cruz
It is a matchup that makes sense and would be a very fun stylistic fight. For O’Malley, he says if the fight happens, he wants it to be the co-main event to Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 in July.
“The second after you fight the question is, who’s next? I heard Dominick Cruz texted Chael Sonnen saying he wanted that fight,” O’Malley said to Pat McAfee on his show. “So, I don’t know if Chael got a prank text for a fake Dom or if that’s real. That’s a potential matchup.
“I know Dustin Poirier tweeted the other day, July 10, so I think I’m a pretty good co-main event type dude,” O’Malley continued. “Dustin vs. Conor, Suga vs. Dominick, I don’t know, that makes sense, that might be it. July, we’ll see. I want to get in there a couple more times this year.”
If Dominick is serious about wanting to fight Sean O’Malley, the co-main event to Poirier-McGregor 3 is the perfect card for it. It would add some more attention to O’Malley who is looking to become the next big superstar. For Cruz, if he beats Suga on the card, he would then likely be a win away from a title shot and trying to reclaim his bantamweight title.
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