LAS VEGAS – Ali Abdelaziz doesn’t think Sean O’Malley‘s UFC 324 win warrants a title fight.
O’Malley (19-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) snapped a two-fight losing skid by edging out Song Yadong in Saturday’s co-headliner at T-Mobile Arena. Earlier in the night, Abdelaziz’s client Umar Nurmagomedov (20-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) scored a decisive win over Deiveson Figueiredo.
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Nurmagomedov has now won two straight after losing to Merab Dvalishvili in their title fight at UFC 311 last January. He is well aware that he likely needs to do more work before earning another shot at the belt.
“Listen, Umar wants to stay active,” Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. “He didn’t want to be given anything. I like Sean O’Malley, and a lot of people thought he lost that fight. I thought maybe he won, honestly. It was close, but you can’t say I’m going to sit out and not fight. The No. 1 ahead of you is Umar. I think he should be asking to fight Umar.”
Abdelaziz is critical of O’Malley’s plan of waiting for the winner of Yan and Dvalishvili should the promotion go the direction of a trilogy. With Yan now UFC bantamweight champion, O’Malley sees new life in the title picture, but Abdelaziz thinks the former champion needs to do more work.
“What happens if Merab wins?” Abdelaziz said. “He’s a nice kid, honestly. I like him, but you have to have the right mentality like Umar. Umar fights anybody, everybody, it doesn’t matter. Umar, if you want him to fight in May, June, July, he’ll be ready. Umar doesn’t want handouts. He wants to be ready. Figueiredo is a hard guy to fight. He was running the whole fight, and it’s hard to do anything.
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“I think Umar wasn’t happy with his performance because he wanted to finish him, but also it’s hard to finish a guy who’s not willing to engage. If Sean O’Malley doesn’t want to fight Umar, it’s OK. Umar will fight someone else, but he’s not ahead of Umar by almost losing to a guy and Umar coming from two wins, but it’s a business. We all know, but Umar is going to keep fighting.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Manager: Sean O’Malley not ahead of Umar Nurmagomedov in title race
