The new UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, has shifted his lens from Aljamain Sterling to those that doubted him in the lead up to his title fight at UFC 292 this past Saturday. O’Malley defied the odds and finished Sterling by TKO at 0:51 of round 2 and left the entire MMA world speechless.
While fans and fighters look back at that moment and understand the star power O’Malley brings to the promotion, UFC welterweight, Ian Machado Garry believed otherwise. In the lead up to his UFC 292 fight against Neil Magny, Garry remained adamant fans were tuning in for the undefeated Irish prospect.
“I believe that I am carrying this 292 card on my back, and if it wasn’t for me, this card would’ve gone down the drain. With the opponent change and everything… at the end of the day, I’m just happy the fans get to see me,” Garry said on ‘The MMA Hour’
Ian Garry Diminishes Sean O’Malley vs. Aljamain Sterling
Garry doubled down on this belief throughout fight week and media day:
“Who in good f*** is waking up at [five] in the morning in Europe or the rest of the world for that matter to watch Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. They’re waking up for me, I can promise you that. They’re waking up for me. They’re tuning in for me because I’m a superstar in Europe. I’ve got an Irish nation behind me and a Brazilian nation behind me now and I’m excited to go out there and show that I am a superstar,” Garry said at UFC 292 media day
Now a couple days removed from the biggest moment in his career, O’Malley has now addressed the comments hurled in his direction. Sitting down with his coach Tim Welch on ‘TimboSugarShow” O’Malley kept it brief regarding Garry.
O’Malley Bites Back
“I get it, you gotta be a little delusional. I said some s*** like that prior to when I was on pay-per-views. He was so mad, it’s because I shared this video of Lloyd, his manager, saying Geoff Neal pulled out because his p**** hurts. [Ian] was super cool to us [though]… what am I gonna do? He’d beat me up, he’s too big,” O’Malley said.
Quotes via BJ Penn
What do you make of the comments from Sean O’Malley? Let us know in the comments!
