UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley believes Ilia Topuria “needs” him

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley believes that featherweight champ Ilia Topuria “needs” him.

Tonight, Sean O’Malley will defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili. It’s set to be an incredibly competitive, entertaining encounter, with many fans and pundits being split down the middle regarding who will get the job done.

RELATED: Sean O’Malley’s coach explains how Max Holloway can beat Ilia Topuria at UFC 308

Beyond this challenge, though, there are plenty of other fun matchups for O’Malley out there. One of them would be a showdown with Ilia Topuria, which would entail a move up to featherweight. The two have gone back and forth with one another for a while now and given their respective star power, it seems like a fight the UFC would consider making.

In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, ‘Suga’ gave his thoughts on his brewing rivalry with the Spaniard.

O’Malley contemplates Topuria fight

“The more I think about the Ilia fight, I’m like, you know what, Ilia needs me,” he said. “Who’s he going to fight next? [If] he goes out there and beats Max [Holloway at UFC 308], who is he going to fight next? I have guys lined up. I have big fights. Ilia needs me more than I need Ilia.

“To be honest, I don’t think he’s gonna get past Max anyway, so I’m kind of switching gears from that. We got guys like Umar that I think are going to be massive fights.”

Quotes via Bleacher Report

Topuria will defend his own belt against Max Holloway later this year.

Do you believe we will ever see Sean O’Malley take on Ilia Topuria in the UFC? If it does happen, who would you back to pick up the win and why? Let us know your thoughts on this one, BJPENN Nation!