Sean O’Malley expects his next fight to be a big one, but an appearance at the White House could be off the cards.
The former UFC bantamweight champ scored a much-needed victory over Song Yadong this past January at UFC 324, getting himself back in the win column and the thick of title contention. O’Malley holds a win over current champion Petr Yan and has been angling for a rematch since defeating Song. Ideally, O’Malley would love to represent the U.S. and face Yan the UFC White House event on June 14.
UFC CEO Dana White recently said he will meet with President Donald Trump soon to finalize the event’s lineup, and as far as O’Malley knows, he isn’t part of it.
“They said they were starting the White House card last week, Tuesday matchmaking, they said they were starting it,” O’Malley said on his podcast. “I haven’t got a call, I haven’t got a jingle, I haven’t heard nothing. So the ol’ ‘Suga Show’ might not be on the White House card. No, it’s still so far out, I don’t know.”
O’Malley joked that he is so determined to fight Yan at the White House that maybe if he just made up the matchup on the spot, it would be picked up by MMA news outlets and become a reality.
“What if I just break news, pretend like it is?” O’Malley said. “Because people just clip up stuff. They don’t even listen to the pod.
“‘What’s up, guys? I’m fighting Petr Yan at the White House, check me out, June 24 confirmed. Trump just texted me.’ People are going to quote that, ‘Trump texts Suga.’ Sorry guys if you got clickbaited.”
With no fighters officially scheduled for UFC White House yet, O’Malley understands if fans are growing impatient waiting for news and if they might not be satisfied with the upcoming UFC slate. He criticized this Saturday’s UFC Houston card, headlined by former middleweight champion Sean Strickland fighting top contender Anthony Hernandez, and believes watered-down lineups are a result of having to wait for the White House card to materialize.
“Kind of a shit card, not going to lie,” O’Malley said of UFC Houston. “I am not going to lie about that, that’s how I feel. … It’s like we’ve got to just suffer through a couple of weeks to get some greatness. They stacked the first two cards pretty heavy and then we’ve just got to go through this little, little phase.”
WHAT?!? Ronda Rousey. Gina Carano. They’re back. In MMA. And they’re fighting each other on Netflix on May 16.
Oh. Rousey claims she discussed Carano fight with Dana White… and he wasn’t interested.
Harsh. Cris Cyborg went in on Rousey for choosing to come back, plus more pros reactions from social media.
Improvements. Matt Brown shares his thoughts on how to save the UFC’s dire heavyweight division.
The Best Friends Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee react to the crazy Rousey-Carano news.
Damon Martin chats with Jorge Masvidal.
Lerone Murphy getting ready for UFC London.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Anthony Smith vs. Chase Sherman (bare-knuckle MMA); Gamebred FC, April 10
Guto Inocente vs. Mohammed Usman (bare-knuckle MMA); Gamebred FC, April 10
Ronda Rousey (12-2) vs. Gina Carano (7-1); May 16
Still reeling from the Rousey-Carano double comeback.
Hey Dana, we getting some White House fights this week?
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.
Read the full article here
