UFC 250: Sean O’Malley looks for another ‘viral knockout’ and says he is ‘taking hype away’ from Cody Garbrandt and Aljamain Sterling

UFC bantamweight prospect Sean O’Malley hopes to extend his streak of “viral knockouts” against veteran Eddie Wineland at UFC 250 at the Apex Centre in Las Vegas Saturday.

The 25-year-old O’Malley (11-0) – sporting a fresh rainbow-coloured died afro – explained that American counterpart Wineland’s (24-13-1) fight style welcomes a KO or TKO.

“I feel like is gonna be a perfect match-up for something like [a viral knockout], said “Sugar” O’Malley at the UFC virtual media day on Thursday, referring to his previous comments about his first-round “viral knockouts” over Mexican Jose Alberto Quinones in March and Armenian Alfred Khashakyan in Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017.

“His hands are low, he’s a brawler, he’s not gonna come out and try to lay on me. The cage is small so he’s probably going to try and get started right away and be aggressive ... whether he comes forward – heavy knockout – or if he lets me push him backwards, he’ll get knocked out. It works out perfectly.”

Prior to his winning return against Quinones, O’Malley had been suspended by the US Anti-Doping Agency for testing positive for the banned substance ostarine. The nine-month retroactive suspension lasted until February.

Per MMA Fighting, O’Malley had also accepted a six-month suspension for failing a drugs test that was linked to bad supplements. The Nevada State Athletic Commission also suspended him for six months.

“It was a little depressing but it wasn’t like I wasn’t getting up in the morning getting excited for the gym,” said O’Malley, who had not fought prior to beating Quinones since downing Andre Soukhamthath via unanimous decision in 2018.

“I knew I was going to eventually fight again ... I had two surgeries within those two years. They helped me reach my full potential as an athlete. It’s a huge part of why I’m so athletic [now]. I had some injuries that didn’t allow me to be that athlete. Then you add in my jiu jitsu, discipline, diet and everything.”

UFC 250 is full of high-ranked bantamweight fights such as Raphael Assuncao (27-7) vs Cody Garbrandt (11-3) plus Aljamain Sterling (18-3) and Cory Sandhagen (12-1). O’Malley hopes his exciting style of fighting can put him in the same bracket come the weekend.

“The stakes in the bantamweight division are super high right now with those other fights,” he said. “I feel like I’m taking away a lot of the hype from those fights, which is good. That’s what I’m here for, pure entertainment and the legitimate skills to back it up.

“It’s not just the crazy hair, the tattoos, the personality. I have legitimately high-level MMA skills. I’m excited to go there and show it and keep climbing up.”