Former UFC dual champion Henry Cejudo thinks Sean O'Malley is purposely picking out favorable matchups.
O’Malley, who’s undefeated in his professional MMA career, is one of the fast rising stars in the UFC. He continues to dazzle each time out and is coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts over Jose Quinonez and Eddie Wineland.
However, O’Malley is yet to be matched up against a fighter that comes from an accomplished wrestling background, and Cejudo thinks it’s no coincidence. When asked whom he thinks the rising stars in the 135-pound division are, Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) brought up up O’Malley (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) but not to sing his praises.
“I think Sean O’Malley is completely overrated,” Cejudo told ESPN’s “Now or Never”. “He hasn’t fought nobody. They haven’t put him up against a wrestler. Every time they ask Sean O’Malley who do you want next, ‘I want another striker.’ You know what that tells me as a competitor? That this dude does not want any smoke up against the cage. This dude doesn’t train with people that can grind him. If I was to ever fight him, I would hurt him. I would grind him out, I would keep him for like maybe three to four rounds and just hurt him.
“I’m not going to strike with him because I will give him some credit. He does understand distance and is very precise, but that’s about it. Put him up against a minor league wrestler – a minor leaguer, I’m telling you, and we’ll see how good he really is.”
Cejudo recently announced his retirement after scoring a second-round stoppage win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May. But he continues to tease a potential comeback, with callouts of UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski and WBC Silver lightweight boxing champ Ryan Garcia.
