Sean O’Malley praised for “masterpiece” by Dana White

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley was praised by UFC president Dana White for his “masterpiece” of a performance at UFC 260.

O’Malley put on another fantastic performance as he finished Thomas Almeida in the third round with punches to bounce back from a TKO loss to Chito Vera in his last fight. O’Malley hurt Almeida badly in the first round with strikes only for his opponent to somehow get up and stay in the fight. However, O’Malley continued to pepper Almeida with shots until eventually taking him out in the third round with an “unnecessary” knockout blow.

Following UFC 260, the UFC bossman White spoke to the media at the post-fight press conference and praised O’Malley for another incredible performance inside the Octagon.

“Yeah, (O’Malley) did it twice tonight. He looked good. Coming back in after the Chito Vera flight, he came into tonight against a real tough kid. Tough, durable, and with serious punching power and he put on a masterpiece tonight. I mean, he picked him apart, he stayed on the outside and basically did whatever he wanted to do. Hurt him, he thought he finished him, and then he finished him again in the third round. You really couldn’t have put on a better performance than he did tonight,” White said of O’Malley.

The win over Almeida puts O’Malley back in line to potentially fight someone else in the top-15 rankings after coming up short against Vera. Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is among the fighters who are interested in taking on O’Malley next. Even if it’s not Cruz, it stands to reason that the UFC will push O’Malley against someone who is ranked, with fighters such as Raphael Assuncao and Marlon Moraes as potential options.

Who do you want to see Sean O’Malley fight next after beating Thomas Almeida at UFC 260?