‘Suga’ Sean spoke to Ariel Helwani about his upcoming title shot and his thoughts on last weekends action at UFC 288, including his altercation with Merab Merab Dvalishvili.
The first question asked by by Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour was in relation to a tweet that ‘Suga’ Sean made prior to UFC 288. Helwani asked his guest to expand on his tweet that he’d have liked Henry Cejudo to win against Sterling:
”You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t like to punch him [Cejudo] in the face, Ariel. He’s just got that face, big head, short arms, short legs. He’s 5′ 4; he fights with his chin higher than, I dunno; there’s just something about Henry I would love to smack, and who knows, maybe down the line somewhere, if he doesn’t quit again, we can make that happen”.
Helwani then asked O’Malley if he thought a fight with Cejudo would be a bigger pay-per-view draw than with Aljamain Sterling. O’Malley figured it would be, but only marginally. Helwani then asked what he thought ‘Suga Sean’s’ first pay-per-view would draw numbers-wise.
”I don’t know, it sucks because you know the champ obviously gets the Pay-per-view points that I wasn’t able to get on my terms…. but at the end of the day I want it to do really well, you know, Aljo [Aljamain] is going to send me a little percentage of it [the PPV revenue] he said. I think it will do really well, but as a far as a number [of sales], I’d say twice as good as whatever this one [UFC 288] did.” O’Malley said later in the interview that he was only joking when he said that Sterling would give him a percentage of the revenue.
Helwani then stated he thought it was both ‘criminal and insane’ that O’Malley wouldn’t get a cut of the PPV revenue for a bout with Sterling due to the fact only the champion gets PPV points ordinarily, even though, as Helwani points out, Sterling vs O’Malley would be one of the biggest bantamweight title fights in history.
O’Malley pointed out that he isn’t underestimating Sterling and recognizes the challenge that awaits him.
”His gas tank, keeping up with Henry for five rounds, that was more impressive than anything. I understand how dangerous of an opponent Aljo is. I know his strengths; I know his weaknesses, and you [Sterling] can be considered the greatest bantamweight of all time right now with his resume, so I know what I’m getting into/ I’m very excited for the challenge. I believe I have the ability and the skills to go out there and shock the world because I do believe I’m going to be a massive underdog.”
Helwani asked for O’Malley’s thoughts about a potential fight between Henry Cejudo and Merab Dvalishvili after the former champion called him out on Twitter earlier today, and Merab accepted the request. O’Malley likes that fight and said it’s a tough one to call. He can see himself fighting both of them in the future due to his beef with Cejudo and his belief that Merab isn’t going anywhere (away from the top of the rankings) soon.
With O’Malley’s last fight coming in October with his victory against Petr Yan, Helwani asked if he was itching to get back in the octagon to compete.
”Yeah. I’m excited, ready to get back in there. I think September, you know, who knows where that card is going to be in September. I think August makes sense; that’s fifteen weeks, three and a half months. You know, that’s plenty of time for him [Sterling] to, you know, take a couple of weeks off and get back in there. He said he’s going to fold me in one round, so I don’t know why he would even train.”
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