January 1, 2025 11:45 am ET
If the UFC returns to Japan, Sean O’Malley needs in.
The previous UFC bantamweight champion was a visitor fighter on the New 12 months’s Eve present RIZIN 49, which happened at Saitama Tremendous Enviornment in Saitama, Japan.
The UFC hasn’t held an occasion in Japan since UFC Struggle Night time 117 in September 2017, however O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is occupied with competing there in the event that they ever return.
“Proper now, clearly, I’m with the UFC,” O’Malley stated throughout a RIZIN media scrum (h/t MMA Fighting). “I plan to be with the UFC eternally. So, if the UFC comes right here sometime, I’d like to struggle on this area. There’s vitality right here.”
O’Malley was requested about competing below the Japanese ruleset, which he admitted wouldn’t be favorable for him. “I seen after I went in there, the ring is loads softer than the UFC,” O’Malley stated. “The UFC platform is thinner. That may be a bit bit totally different. The ruleset, for me, I really feel prefer it advantages me extra not with the ability to get kicked within the head as a result of I’m usually not the one above somebody. If I get taken down I’m normally on my again. So, that will most likely not be pretty much as good for me, however it might be attention-grabbing.”
“The Suga Present” is presently on the mend after present process surgical procedure resulting from a torn left labrum – an damage he was coping with previous to losing his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 this previous September.
“The manufacturing of the present was unimaginable, the vitality within the area is unimaginable, the ring ladies are unimaginable,” O’Malley stated on the RIZIN 49 occasion. “General impression of Japan, this has been essentially the most enjoyable journey I’ve ever been on, and I’d love to come back again.”
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