Sean O'Malley has no intention of humbling himself after losing for the first time against Marlon Vera at UFC 252.
In fact, O’Malley (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) doesn’t feel the setback was particularly legitimate, and days later the outcome is eating away at him.
O’Malley brought a lot of hype and an unbeaten record into his bantamweight co-headliner with Vera (16-6-1 MMA, 10-5 UFC) at UFC 252. He was comfortable to start the fight, but then things quickly took a turn as an ankle issue started to hinder his movement. “Chito” capitalized and got top position, where he landed some big shots that forced the referee to stop the fight in the first round.
According to O’Malley, there’s no serious damage to the ankle. He said he “just rolled it about seven times” and indicated the problem could’ve stemmed from his pre-fight decision to loosen the wraps on his feet.
“Warming up in the back, everything was perfect,” O’Malley said on “The Timbo and Sugar Show” podcast. “I’m in (expletive) good shape. I’m breaking this mother(expletive) 100 percent in my mind. I get back there, doing our warm-up, everything is going perfect. About five minutes before we’re set to walk I’m like, ‘Do you think you could (expletive) loosen up my ankle brace? It’s (expletive) tight.’ So he’s sitting back loosening up my ankle braces because they were tight. That’s about it.
“Walked out, everything felt good, got in there. I was in front of him, and I’m like, in my mind, I’m like, ‘This is easy. He’s slow. He can’t hit me.’ You can’t hit me, and you can’t take me down. I didn’t think he was going to be able to take me down because he was so slow. … God, just standing there knowing I had one leg and like, ‘He still sucks.'”
O’Malley gave Vera no credit for the outcome. He said he felt he was in “complete control” from the very start, but then it turned on a dime. There are parts of that reality O’Malley can accept, and others he’s still grappling with.
“We picked the date, we picked the time, and we both walked out. It doesn’t matter what the (expletive) happens,” O’Malley said. “Whoever wins, how it happens, however they win, wins. He won. It sucks for me, because I lost to someone who I look at as not very good. I look at him, and I’m like, ‘He’s not that good.’ And I (expletive) lost to him. That’s what’s the most frustrating thing. Losing to someone I’m better than. That ‘humble’ post was a (expletive) joke. So for everyone commenting stupid (expletive), I’m not humble.
“Let’s look at his career in five years, and let’s look at mine. I’m going to be (expletive) world champ, and he’s going to be a (expletive) journeyman. That’s just what his is. He wins some; he loses some. He’s slow, but he’s gritty, so he’s going to be able to finish some people after they beat him up for a while. … He gets lucky and beats me and jumps up like he won the (expletive) lottery. That just shows what kind of a (expletive) he was.”
O’Malley said he hasn’t received medical clearance in the aftermath of UFC 252. He’s visiting another doctor for an MRI this week, then said he hopes to “get this taste out of my mouth.”
Days after the fight, though, it’s obvious that taste is still strong.
“Literally the only thing that bugs me is I lost in a way where I feel like I didn’t lose, and I lost to a guy I feel like is not that good,” O’Malley said. “I had the same pain, but all around my ankle, and I remember dragging my foot up against the cage like, ‘(Expletive).’ Even still, didn’t feel in danger. I’m like, ‘OK, I’m not very mobile, but I don’t feel in danger. I don’t feel like he’s a threat.’ I was hoping he would shoot in on me so I could try to guillotine him. (Expletive) cracked him with a good shot, then that last little flurry I had. I don’t think he punched me once on my feet, even after my foot was (expletive) up.”