Add Sean O’Malley to the list of growing fighters wanting to be a part of the UFC’s White House event.
O’Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) wants at least one more fight before the UFC’s planned White House event next June. He is coming off back-to-back title losses to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili – last year at UFC 306 from the Sphere then UFC 316 in June.
O’Malley recently said he’s open to facing Song Yadong next and thinks he could find himself in the title picture again if Cory Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) is able to dethrone Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) at UFC 320 on Oct. 4.
“Yeah, the White House card, if Cory goes out there and wins, I beat whoever is next, that’s interesting,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “But regardless, I want to fight within the next four or five months or whatever it is, so that I’ll also be ready for that because they (UFC) said it could be in June, could be International Fight Week or could be July.
“So if I can get one in early next year or at the end of (this) year, one of the two, count me in. I want to be on that card. Dude, being on the Sphere card, being on the White House card, these are legendary moments that are once in a lifetime f*cking moments.”
O’Malley isn’t ruling out Sandhagen’s chances but also envisions a dominant performance from Dvalishvili, just like when he was submitted by the champ at UFC 316.
“Part of me feels like Merab’s going to go out there and do kind of what he did to me, grab a hold of him, wrestle, takedown, just get outwrestled, just kind of stay on him,” O’Malley said. “Then part of me is like, Cory’s hungry, Cory wants it, he’s going to go out there, he’s going to find a way to win. He’s got a good gas tank, it just depends what style of fight plays out. (If) Merab goes and takes him down three times, four times, Cory tries and wrestles him, Merab is going to out-gas him all day there.”
