UFC 299: Alexander Volkanovski Gives Deadline to Sean O’Malley After First Successful Title Defense

The UFC 299 event in Miami came to a close with the UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley retaining his title against his long-time rival Marlon Vera after giving the fans an incredible war. The fight seemed personal for the champion as Vera was the only fighter to have ever beaten “Suga” in his professional MMA career. Now that he has retained his title, O’Malley has the chance to pick any bantamweight going into his next fight. However, the 29-year-old seems to have a different plan.

Instead of calling out the no.1 UFC bantamweight contender in Merab Dvalishvili, O’Malley went on to state that he wanted to aim for double champ status by calling out the featherweight champ, Ilia Topuria. However, former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanvski had much to say about the callout.

Alexander Volkanovski weighs in on Sean O’Malley’s callout of Ilia Topuria.

Alexander Volkanovski lost his featherweight gold to the 27-year-old Spaniard back in UFC 298 and has been looking forward to a rematch against Topuria ever since his loss. Given that Volkanovski was tuned in for the UFC 299 event, the former champ acknowledged “Suga’s” callout for “El Matador”. He came up with a solution for both of them as he went on to give O’Malley a time frame for his fight against the 27-year-old champion in a recent YouTube video.

Volkanovski in the video congratulated the champ for retaining his UFC belt and said, “He called out Ilya. Look, unless you fight Ilya anytime soon. If you can do a turn around anytime soon, I guess you can have it because again, I’m having a little rest but I’m fighting him later in the year or whatever that is. So I know I’m fighting for the title next. So if you are going to try and squeeze that in, it better be soon because I’m next. So there you go. There’s your little window if you want it.”

Ilia Topuria is actually the hottest name around the lighter divisions. So a fight between the two would certainly bring in quite a lot of eyes to the event if made. But how did the UFC champ call out Topuria after his fight?

Also Read: How Much Is Sean O’Malley’s Payday Against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 299? All About BW Star’s Earnings

O’Malley wants to move up a weight class

Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria had been going back and forth on social media over the past couple of months. With both fighters eager to fight each other, it wasn’t really surprising when O’Malley called out the wrong Georgian after his win at UFC 299.

During the post-fight interview, when Joe Rogan asked him who he wanted to fight next, “Suga” stated, “Dana! Gimme a jet to Spain, baby! I’m coming for Ilia Topuria… And if he doesn’t want it, nah, f*ck it, I want Ilia, baby, give me Ilia… He’s a scary f**king dude, he excites me. Going up a weight class excites me. Honestly, I’m here for whatever. If you guys want me to knock out Merab, I’ll do that too, but Ilia is an exciting fight for the people.”

Given that O’Malley fighting Ilia Topuria could hold back his division, should the “Suga Show” make his move up to featherweight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Also Read: Dana White Receives Possible Main Event as Ilia Topuria Offers Title Shot to Sean O’Malley After UFC 299