Rising UFC Bantamweight superstar Umar Nurmagomedov has one solid piece of advice for Sean O’Malley- he doesn’t believe that his division’s champion should lock horns with Ilia Topuria.
Following his dominating victory over Marlon Vera in the main event of UFC 299 back on 9th March in Miami, “Sugar” made a surprising callout of the reigning featherweight champion Topuria- revealing his intentions to pursue for that coveted double champ status.
“Dana give me a Jet to Spain, Baby, I’m coming for Illia Topuria” O’Malley told Joe Rogan in the cage about his next plan after Vera, “I want Illia, Baby, give me Illia.”
Topuria, however, reminded O’Malley in a post on X that he needs something else to take care of first- Merab Dvalishvili.
“Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab. Get that done first,” wrote Topuria in response to the callout from O’Malley.
Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first .
— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) March 10, 2024
Umar Nurmagomedov’s advice for Sean O’Malley
Umar Nurmagomedov- the up and rising 135-pound prodigy is also negating the idea of an O’Malley vs. Topuria clash, as the Dagestani feels its going to be bad news for O’Malley to jump up a division for a fighter who’se bigger and dangerous for him.
“He’s talking about Ilia Topuria – for me, it doesn’t make sense,” Nurmagomedov said in an interview with ESPN. “Ilia’s going to maybe kill this guy because he’s too big, and right now, Ilia’s too dangerous for him, I think. When you go up, change weight, for O’Malley, he’s going to lose nothing.”
“He’s healthy. That’s maybe why he wants to go up – make some money. Even if he will lose, he’s going to stay champion at bantamweight, right? Right now, it makes sense in our division – the guy (with the 10-fight winning streak), Merab has to fight for the title,” the Russian added. [H/T MMA Junkie]
For his part, Nurmagomedov is coming off a dominating win over Bekzat Almakhan at UFC Vegas 87 on March 2nd, and has been eyeing to rebook a fight against Cory “The Sandman” Sandhagen up next.