The main card opener of Saturday's UFC 269 event showcased the polarizing Sean O'Malley against Raulian Paiva. O'Malley is a hot topic in the MMA community as almost everyone has a really strong opinion on him one way or the other. He has a really strong fan base that will ride with him through thick and thin, while supporting everything he does. He has an equally large section of MMA fans that can stand him and will stop at nothing to dismiss and diminish everything he does. I like to think I can be down the middle on most guys and formulate my own opinions of situations as they happen. I can criticize people I generally like and can give kudos to people I don't really like that much. With that said, on the spectrum, I probably tend to the side of people who actually like Sean O'Malley, so keep that in mind. When I say I like him, I mostly mean that I like watching him fight. I don't care too much for his out of the cage personality, not because I have any problems with it, but it just doesn't really appeal to me. I don't smoke or do the kinds of things that Sean's online persona focuses on, so all of that is more or less irrelevant to me. If you don't like him for his personal actions then that's fine, but I don't think that really matters all that much. He's not doing anything illegal or things that hurt people in any way, so as far as I'm concerned, that's all fair game even if it doesn't really interest me all that much.
As happens with most Sean O'Malley fights, his opponents get drastically disrespected, which isn't fair to anybody. The people who don't like Sean are quick to say that everyone he fights is a can. That way, if he wins, they can say that he should have won and it doesn't mean anything and if he loses, they can say he lost to a can, which is honestly just stupid. Sean's resume is what it is, to borrow a quote from Max Holloway. He doesn't have the fights that should put him into consideration for a title fight, but I don't think anyone is claiming he does. He just got put into the rankings at number 13 this morning. He was put in after Cody Garbrandt was removed after leaving the weight class and I think that's fair.
In my estimation, Raulian Paiva is probably the second toughest fight of O'Malley's career. I still believe Marlon Vera is better than Paiva, but Sean lost that fight, so a step back was in order. Normally, I go into both fighters in detail, but I'm not going to do that with Paiva. I don't think his career is defined enough to really narrow down potential options. Paiva had been a flyweight for most of his UFC career before he missed weight by 4 pounds against Zhalgas Zhumagulov. He moved up the bantamweight in his next fight and defeated the number 15 ranked Kyler Phillips. That moved Paiva into that number 15 spot briefly, but he had since been removed from the rankings before this fight with O'Malley. Based off of his record at bantamweight, I would expect to see Paiva fight someone in the 16-25 range in the division, which aren't official rankings of course. If you forced me to throw out a few names for potential matchups, I would offer the following: Casey Kenney, Raoni Barcelos, Nathaniel Wood, Chris Gutierrez, Trevin Jones, and Davey Grant. I have no real reason for those names, but I feel like those guys are approximately the level of fighter I would be looking at for Paiva. Paiva isn't an amazing fighter in the ranks of the UFC, but to act like he's just some guy is ridiculous and just attempting to make sure Sean doesn't get any credit. He has a win over a ranked bantamweight, so that has to count for something, but enough with that for now. Let's get into Sean a little more.
To my surprise, Sean actually looked a little different this time out. He typically comes out and throws with insane volume. I believe he had the highest output rate in UFC history going into the fight. We saw a much more patient version of O'Malley this time. He was really careful and measured with the shots he threw out. I think he actually showed respect for his opponent and was wary of the takedown from Paiva. Sean was really managing the distance and wasn't trying to overwhelm Paiva like we have seen him do with other opponents. However, once Sean gets his opponents hurt in his previous fights, he really locks in and focuses on getting the one or two really precise shots to finish his opponents. He's very similar to Israel Adesanya in that regard. Sean threw this strategy out the window once he got Paiva hurt for some reason. He dropped him with a straight right hand and then just unloaded long, extended combinations that ended up sitting Paiva down a second time and ultimately finishing the fight. I think it's a good sign to see that O'Malley is making adjustments to his game and actually altering his style based on the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents. A lot of the time, we'll see prospects just focus on themselves and what they do and try to impose their will on an opponent, which is important, but at some level, there's going to be some resistance. Sean hasn't met that type of resistance yet, but he's preparing as if he will, and I think that's a good habit to start for him. Within his next few fights, he's going to start getting some really high level opponents that he will have to create unique game plans for. Sean O'Malley has as much talent as anyone in the division and it would not surprise me at all if he were to one day become champion. His wild striking style combined with his massive length for the division is enough to create problems for even the toughest opponents.
With that said, we do have some questions that still need answered when it comes to Sean's game and I would like to address at least one of them with his next opponent. We saw Sean almost go the entire 15 minutes against Kris Moutinho and while he was dominant for virtually every second of that fight, he was really tired at the end. One possibility for this fight is to give Sean someone who has a proven chin, while being closer to Sean's skill level than Moutinho was in order to give his cardio a true test. The first name that came to mind when I wrote that out was Pedro Munhoz. We know Munhoz has an incredible chin and he would force O'Malley to fight for a full 15 (or even 25) minutes. That would match Sean up with someone coming off of 2 losses in a row, which the UFC doesn't really like to do, but I do think that fight makes sense for both guys and their timelines align perfectly assuming there's no serious injuries coming out of Saturday. Munhoz also gives us a chance to see how durable Sean's chin is as Munhoz has good power for the division, which we saw on display in the first round against Dominick Cruz. Another option would be to test Sean's grappling, which I think is what most people question the most about Sean's game. The easy name for me here is Ricky Simon. I love that fight and even though Simon isn't in the rankings, I think that would be a great test for Sean to see where he's at in the wrestling department. Ricky Simon is booked this weekend against Raphael Assuncao and if he wins (spoiler: I think he will), he should find himself in the rankings near Sean. That fight almost makes itself and would also test Sean's cardio in a slightly different way. Obviously, if you really wanted to test Sean's wrestling, Merab Dvalishvili isn't booked, but to me, that is way too big of a jump and Merab has earned a fight that is more clearly a title eliminator type matchup. The final type of test the UFC could give to Sean is to give him someone who is sort of viewed as his equal. Another young, rising prospect in the division to see where they both are. If you don't already know who I am referencing, it's Song Yadong. I think this is a great opportunity for both fighters to really get some momentum after defeating another hot prospect. There's the possibility that the UFC tries to raise Sean's profile even higher by matching him up with an aging legend. I don't want to see Sean in this type of fight because it will just be feeding someone to the wolves. Frankie Edgar looks to be on his way out of the sport and I think a Sean O'Malley fight would be a really bad matchup for him. Marlon Moraes isn't as old as Edgar, but he's really trending in the wrong direction of late. Dominick Cruz is winning and looks good, but I think he's rising and is in a position for a title eliminator fight (potentially against the aforementioned Dvalishvili). There's also the rematch against Marlon Vera that I think a lot of people really want to see and I'm one of them. However, the UFC doesn't typically make rematches that aren't for a title or really high in the rankings and I think they may go away from it here. If I was forced to rank potential opponents in the order that I would try to make them, I think I would go: Munhoz, Simon, Vera, Yadong, and then just make it a round 5, I'll say the Adrian Yanez fight. I didn't talk too much about that because I don't know that the UFC is interested in potentially halting either of their momentum, but that fight would be really fun while it lasted.
I could have made this post 2500 words because since Sean is new to the rankings, he really has not shortage of options. Most everyone between 10 and 25 could be an option for one reason or another. While, I am someone who likes Sean, I do think it's time for him to get a tougher test now. That doesn't even mean it has to be someone ranked. Ricky Simon isn't ranked and I think that would be a great fight for Sean. There was a rumor about a potential Brain Kelleher fight and while that would be fun, I think Sean has kind of past that point now. I decided to keep my explanations short because Sean has so many options, but if there's a fight that you guys want me to talk about in more detail, then leave that comment below and I can get that out for you guys sometime in the next couple of weeks. We're about to go about a month without any UFC cards, so we're going to have to get creative with some topics. What do you guys think about Sean O'Malley's performance? How high do you think he can rise? Who do you want to see him fight next? Leave your thoughts in the comments as well as some suggestions for topics for the long break between cards. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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