Sean O’Malley asked for a quick turnaround to face Cory Sandhagen just a month after UFC 316.
O’Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) was submitted by Merab Dvalishvili in June, suffering his second-straight loss to the bantamweight champion.
Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) already has his next title defense set when he takes on Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) in the UFC 320 co-main event on Oct. 4 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Prior to the title-fight booking, O’Malley revealed that he was trying to get booked against Sandhagen shortly after his title loss.
“I was actually trying to fight Cory when the co-main event fell out for that Max (Holloway) and Dustin (Poirier) fight,” O’Malley said on the “Overdogs Podcast.” “I threw my name out there to UFC. I was like: Three weeks, me vs. Cory would be sweet. But it didn’t really make sense for the UFC. Cory vs. Merab was the next fight to make. But yeah, me vs. Cory is a very interesting fight. That’s one that’s bound to happen – sooner than later.”
O’Malley may not get his opportunity to face Sandhagen now, but it still remains one of his most desired fights in the division. He was asked to play matchmaker for the expected White House event next July, and pitched Sandhagen as one of the options.
“I think me vs. Cory,” O’Malley said. “Me vs. Petr (Yan) 2, I feel like that would be a banger. Me vs. Cory, me vs. Merab 3? No, I’m just kidding.”
