Sean O’Malley Reminded of Near Impossible Title Defense As Dirt Slinging With Ilia Topuria Crosses the Line

In MMA, rivalries between two fighters of the same division are as common as sand on the beach. But there are times when fighters from two entirely different weight classes can develop bad blood. Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg, and Colby Covington vs. Dustin Poirier are some great examples. But the latest addition to this list is the beef between Ilia Topuria and Sean O’Malley.

These two fighters might be the most promising prospects in the UFC as of now. While O’Malley became the new king of bantamweight at UFC 292, Topuria is coming off a dominant win over veteran Josh Emmett. However, both men fight in different weight classes: 135 lbs for O’Malley and 145 lbs for Topuria. So, what’s the bad blood all about?

The war of words between Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria

In his latest “X” post, UFC featherweight prospect Illia Topuria has sent a reminder to Sean O’Malley for a possible title defense. A title defense that, according to many, is ‘near impossible’ for the newly crowned bantamweight king. And according to Topuria, it’s a challenge ‘Sugar’ could never triumph over. For those who haven’t guessed it yet, it’s Merab Dvalishvili. In Topuria’s own words: “You don’t get past @MerabDvalishvil to come see me, so sit and wait like the good little dog you are.”

For those unaware, this “X” post is the latest addition to the spree of verbal spats the two men have been directing toward each other. It all started when Topuria expressed his thoughts on the main event of UFC’s Singapore event in one of his “X” posts. According to the Spaniard, the stars of the main event, Max Holloway and The Korean Zombie, should retire. A thought Topuria expressed after showing his respect for two veterans.

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But he didn’t just stop there and issued a challenge to the two champions, Sean O’Malley and Alexander Volkanovski, all in the same post. Calling out O’Malley, Topuria wrote, “keep rising up, and maybe one day we’ll share the octagon.” To this, Sean O’Malley replied: “I have risen. Your turn to rise up,” taunting Topuria’s lack of UFC gold and turning this into a war of words.

The mud-slinging might never go to the octagon

By now, what started as a Twitter callout has turned into a full-fledged mud-slinging match. In his very next tweet, ‘El Matador’ belittled ‘Sugar’ as an easy challenge. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the newly crowned champion, and the fighter reminded Topuria that he needs to get past Featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski first. A gesture that Topuria replied to by reminding O’Malley of his possible future title defense.

This isn’t the first time that two athletes of different weight classes have engaged in such verbal altercations. But it’s rare for such virtual beef to transition to an octagon encounter, a very likely scenario in this case. Sean O’Malley, who has recently captured UFC gold, appears more interested in a boxing matchup with Gervonta Davis. Meanwhile, Topuria also seems busy with his featherweight ambitions and is likely in line to face the champion Volkanovski instead.  Considering all this, like many other rivalries, this one too might just get limited to “X.” At least for the time being.

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