Sean O'Malley thinks Ben Askren’s criticism toward him was unwarranted.
O’Malley (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who suffered his first pro loss to Marlon Vera at UFC 252, was stretchered out of the arena after rolling his ankle multiple times in the fight, which visibly hindered his movement. Vera took advantage and stopped O’Malley with a TKO late in Round 1.
Askren ripped O’Malley, claiming it was a sign of weakness for him to get carted out and that he should have just hopped on one leg.
But O’Malley can’t understand why Askren would criticize him for using a stretcher to prevent further damaging his ankle when exiting the arena.
“I thought Ben Askren was smart,” O’Malley said on “The Timbo and Sugar Show” podcast. “I didn’t know he was slow. You have an opportunity, you (expletive) your foot up. I had an opportunity. Your foot’s (expletive) up, and you have to walk here to there. Or they said, ‘Here, we’ll push you on a little thing with wheels so you don’t have to walk on your (expletive) up foot, make it worse.’ I’m like, ‘God, big Ben – I thought you were smarter. I didn’t know you were stupid.’ It’s just stupid. If you ask the smartest person in the world, you smash their foot and you say, ‘Do you want to walk over there or do you want to be carted?,’ they would take the cart.”
O’Malley’s coach Tim Welsh claimed “Suga” tried to say that he didn’t need a stretcher, but it was forced on him.
According to O’Malley, he suffered no serious damage to his ankle. He hasn’t been medically cleared yet, but plans on visiting another doctor for an MRI this week. He recently posted a video of him dancing, saying he’s good and he just “tripped” in the fight.
