via Getty
Sean O’Malley reacts after his knockout victory over Thomas Almeida at UFC APEX on March 27, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Credit: Getty Images
via Getty
Sean O’Malley reacts after his knockout victory over Thomas Almeida at UFC APEX on March 27, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Credit: Getty Images
UFC 264 is all set to be one of the biggest MMA events of the year. There are a plethora of great fights lined up for the event and the bantamweight fight between Sean O’Malley and Kris Moutinho is one such fight. This fight was not originally a part of the event as earlier ‘Sugar’ was to face Louis Smolka instead. However, as Smolka had to withdraw from the fight, Moutinho was brought in as a replacement.
Leading up to the fight between O’Malley and Moutinho
O’Malley is coming into the fight on the back of a dominating victory against Thomas Almeida at UFC 260. ‘Sugar’ won that fight via a 3rd round KO, to take his MMA record to (13-1). Whereas his opponent Kris Moutinho is a newcomer in the UFC and will make his debut at UFC 264.
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Sean O’Malley’s new UFC 264 opponent is Kris Moutinho, who’ll be making his UFC debut. He’s 9-4. Ricky Simon was considered, I’m told, but he couldn’t make 135 on such short notice.
O’Malley first broke the news on his Twitch stream.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 30, 2021
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Although this will be Moutinho’s first fight in the UFC, the fighter has been a part of various MMA platforms before. Moutinho made his debut back in 2016 and has an MMA record of (9-4). In his last fight, Moutinho defeated Andrew Salas at the CFFC 96 event via a 3rd round submission.
UFC 264: Sean O’Malley vs Kris Moutinho
Sean O’Malley is considered one of the brightest prospects in MMA and many believe him to be the next big UFC superstar. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that coming into the fight ‘Sugar’ is being touted as a huge favorite.
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Looking at the record of both fighters we can see why people believe O’Malley to be the favorite. ‘Sugar’ has won 9 out of his 14 fights via KO/TKO with 7 of them coming in the first round. Compare that with Moutinho and the fighter has just 3 wins via KO/TKO.
This clearly shows that ‘Sugar’ is the more aggressive fighter and would look to end the fight early. This fight will be an impressive start for the highly anticipated main card and one can expect both fighters to put on a great show.
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Final Prediction: Sean O’Malley defeats Kris Moutinho via a second-round KO.
