UFC-profilen Sean O’Malley (14-1) är en av organisationens mest populära bantamviktare trots att han är orankad i viktklassen vilket gör honom till en så pass eftertraktad motståndare. Han möter nu härnäst Raulian Paiva som säger sig kunna submitta amerikanen.
Raulian Paiva: Sean O’Malley har ingen kämpaglöd
Paiva var framgångsrik i sin bantamviktsdebut med en seger via domslut mot Kyler Phillips där han hoppade in på kort varsel i juli. Hans säger sig ha blivit förvånad när han erbjöds matchen mot O’Malley som äger rum den 11 december. Han sade följande till MMA Fighting:
O’Malley sells a lot, there’s a lot of marketing around him. So that’s even better for us, for my work, and to spread my name in this new division.
O’Malley slog igenom vid Dana White:s Contender Series år 2017 och har sedan dess mäktat med 6-1 i oktagonen. Han har nu två raka segrar sedan förlusten mot Marlon Vera vid UFC 252 ett nederlag som enligt Paiva visade på hur svag kämpaglöd som O’Malley besitter. Han nedvärderade också amerikanens senaste segrar;
Thominhas’ [Almeida] was basically in the end of his UFC career, and [Kris Moutinho], who took the fight on short notice, was way lighter than him. [Moutinho] could take a beating, but was way inferior.
And he lost when he tough a top fighter. Marlon Vera is very experienced, has many fights in the UFC, he put pressure over him and that’s it. He wimped out, got desperate and that happened, he got TKO’d. … There are fighters that only know how to hit but drop in performance when they are under pressure, and that’s what I see in O’Malley.
If you give him space he’ll do his thing, but he’ll start to get desperate and make mistakes more and more if you don’t give him space. That’s basically what I’ll do. I’ll make him make mistakes at his own game. I’m going there to pressure him from the first to the third round, if we get to the third round.
Tror sig kunna submitta O’Malley
Brassen ser O’Malley som en bra matchning för honom när det kommer till deras fightingstilar. Han tycker dock att fightern snarare gör sig ett namn för sina aktioner utanför buren än dem i oktagonen då denne har hela 1,9 miljoner följare på Youtube:
As a fighter, he likes to showboat like [Conor] McGregor but [most of] his followers come from his YouTube channel.
He’s cocky on social media and that gives him more followers, but not every follower actually likes his work as a MMA fighter. They like the stuff he does more than his actual work, which is fighting. But he’s a young kid, a talented kid, and has everything to grow in the organization. But I also want to grow in the organization and in this new weight class and I won’t let him make his name over mine.
Med segrar i sina senaste tre UFC-matcher mot Mark De La Rosa, Zhalgas Zhumagulov och Kyler Phillips i ryggen säger sig Paiva redan veta nu vad som väntar honom vid UFC 269. Han förväntar sig vara en underdog men tror sig ändå submitta amerikanen ifall amerikanen blir desperat:
I can submit him if he gets desperate, but my hand can land because he keeps his hands low. But I believe it’s going to be via submission.
