Ilia Topuria will fight Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title at UFC 298 in a little over a week’s time, and if he’s victorious then bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has claimed he wants to move up to fight him for the belt.
“I want to become champ-champ,” O’Malley told Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast podcast. “Ilia just has that face that I would love to f****** knee him right up the middle and break his little nose. So that’s that. I’ll probably head out to California and watch that fight, Ilia vs. Volk. It’s going to be a f****** sick fight.
“When I think of some of the most skilled fighters that I’ve ever watched, Ilia’s up there. Ilia is f****** dangerous. He’s one of the best all-around martial artists, he’s so f****** skilled. So it’s nothing like I don’t think he sucks. I think he’s very, very f****** dangerous. But I also think I’ll put his lights out, so it’s a nice little mix.”
Topuria has certainly looked impressive so far in his UFC run, winning extended his unbeaten record to 14-0 with six wins in the Octagon so far, beating the likes of Josh Emmett, Bryce Mitchell and Ryan Hall along the way, but O’Malley sees him as just another stepping stone on his way to becoming an all-time great.
“I want to be with the greatest of all-time. I want to defend this belt. I want to go knock out Ilia if he wins. I want to beat the guys that they say I can’t beat and stay dialed. I’m 29 right now, so I’ve got four, five, six more years depending on injuries and how things go. I’ve wanted to be the greatest since I started, but building that ‘Sugar’ brand, it almost looks like I don’t take this as seriously as I do and I don’t think people see that as much.”
Of course there’s the small matter of O’Malley still having to successfully defend his own bantamweight title against Marlon Vera at UFC 299 in March first, not to mention the fact that beating Volkanovski will be a massive hurdle for Topuria to overcome, but ‘Suga’ Sean is still planning ahead just in case.
“I want The Sphere in Vegas,” O’Malley said. “Ilia. September, Mexican Independence Day, that’s kind of what I’m trying to manifest right now, but obviously I’ve got to get through f****** Chito. Very tough, durable Ecuadorian.”
