T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. USA.
At UFC 264, two American fighters, Sean O’Malley and Kris Moutinho will meet before the Poirier vs McGregor fight. The bout will take place in the lightest weight division. Neither of them is in the top 15 of the official challenger rankings.
Sean O’Malley was considered one of the coolest prospects in the UFC not too long ago, both winning brightly and being very active in the media space. But the loss to Marlon Vera, especially the injury situation (which many didn’t believe), dropped the athlete’s stock drastically.
Sean O’Malley: He lost, but he’s back
Sean has a lot of fans. He fights outside the box, but he always wins by knockout and usually quickly. O’Malley is 6’2”, but he’s fighting in the bantamweight division. And in life, he plays Fortnite, smokes weed by the pool and hangs out with Snoop Dogg.
His UFC debut was crazy. O’Malley beat Andre Soukhamthath for three rounds, won unanimously, and got the bonus for best performance. Sean landed a considerable amount of leg kicks, and after the fight, he was unable to stand and met the win lying down. That time O’Malley gave one of the craziest interviews in the league. He spoke to Joe Rogan right in the cage while he lay squirming in pain.
After losing to Marlon Vera and surviving a ton of taunts, Sean made a triumphant comeback. He beat Almeida all three rounds and didn’t even finish him twice. Still, we should note that he made a mistake with a knee strike in the second round, ended up on the canvas, and was almost finished.
I will lose one day, and it doesn’t bother me. I train with some earnest guys and I lose in the gym. It’s not such a big deal. One day I’ll lose a fight as well and it won’t be a big deal. I lost that fight to Vera not because he was better than me as a fighter, not because he had better skills. He didn’t move me to the ground. My leg just failed and I fell on my back. What happened is what happened, but it doesn’t affect my mindset before the upcoming match. In my mind, I’m still an undefeated fighter, so there’s nothing wrong with my mood. I feel good.
Kris Moutinho: He’s not a problem
We don’t know much about Moutinho, but he shouldn’t be a problem for O’Malley. This is evidenced not only by his output on short notice but also by Kris’ not-so-convincing MMA record of 9 wins and four defeats. He’s spent his entire career in the CES regional league, and at the UFC level, he’s yet to make his debut, and right away against an up-and-coming fighter with a knockout punch.
Expert Betting Tips
This fight is an apparent mistake by the matchmakers, and we only have to choose which round Sean O’Malley finishes the debutant. It’s up to you to decide, but I think it’s still the first round. So we suggest betting on Sean O’Malley to win in Round 1 for 1.80.
Other predictions
