UFC 260: Sean O’Malley persists for ‘sweet’ KO of Thomas Almeida after first-round flub
- ‘Sugar’ back on track with a highlight-reel KO in third round, having failed to finish fight in first after knockdown
- ‘I thought he was done,’ says O’Malley, who walked off only for the official to keep things going
The Sean O’Malley hype train is firmly back on track.
Questions surrounded O’Malley’s durability after his first professional defeat against Marlon “Chito” Vera last August. But “Sugar” (13-1) rebounded in spectacular style with a crushing, highlight reel knockout of Thomas Almeida in their bantamweight bout at UFC 260 on Saturday night.
The 26-year-old American got it done at 3:52 of the third round, having perhaps mistakenly not rushed in to finish the fight in the first. O’Malley had wobbled the Brazilian with a head kick and dropped him with a big left hand, and thought he had done enough for the walk-off KO. But the referee didn’t step in and the fight resumed, with Almeida showing great durability until O’Malley put him down again.
The official was again hesitant to call it when he easily could have, with Almeida on his back and seemingly unable to defend himself. O’Malley hesitated again, but this time obliged and lunged in, finishing it with a swift, brutal right that busted Almeida’s nose.
“I thought so, I thought he was done [in the first round],” O’Malley told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. “He’s tough, that dude’s legit.”
O’Malley said he “potentially” could have finished the fight then and there had he jumped in for the TKO. But he added: “I want a sweet knock out. I don’t want something like … what happened was good. But I only have 15 minutes to perform, maybe only a couple times a year. When I get in there I wanna do something sweet.”