Sean O’Malley reaffirms interest in fighting Adrian Yanez: “That’s a sick fight”

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley reaffirmed his interest in fighting rising star Adrian Yanez, saying “that’s a sick fight.”

O’Malley called out Yanez after his “Fight of the Night” victory over Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 43. Yanez, however, suggested that O’Malley wasn’t being serious about the callout. “Suga,” though, confirmed that he is in fact interested in this fight, and he is hoping the UFC sets this fight up for next March should O’Malley beat Raulian Paiva at UFC 269.

“Adrian Yanez won, I called him out, he talked sh*t. We’ll probably fight in March…he sounded stupid. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s a sick fight. That’d be a sweet next matchup’ because every time he’s fought, I’m like, ‘Damn.’ He always puts on a performance. It’s always a fun fight to watch and Din Thomas says he looks like a young Jorge Masvidal. Like, damn, that’s sick. He does,” Sean O’Malley said on “The Timbo Sugar Show” podcast (via MMAjunkie.com).

“I said it would be fun to fight him in March, and I mean – you get called out, you take it as disrespect in a way. He did that. Automatically, he was like, ‘Well, he knocked out Eddie Wineland, then he knocked out Thomas Almeida’ and he’s just trying to find things to talk sh*t about, which I didn’t – I wanna fight because I think it’d be a sweet fight. March, and I’m not taking Paiva light either. I’ve got to get through Paiva first, but I think that would be a next sweet fight. March.”

Both O’Malley and Yanez are two of the best young fighters under the age of 30 in the UFC bantamweight division, and both men have very bright futures in this sport. The UFC matchmakers will likely put them on separate paths up the division, but if they do match them up, no fans would be complaining about seeing this fight between the two strikers.