Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis lived up to the hype. Strickland and du Plessis had promised a fight “to the death” at their UFC 297 pre-fight press conference. The fight was a thrilling back-and-forth affair that du Plessis won by a razor-thin split decision.

While many, including UFC CEO Dana White, felt Strickland won, there is agreement that the fight was very close and the decision could have gone either way without much controversy. After his victory, du Plessis wasted no time in calling out former champion Israel Adesanya, with whom he has unfinished business. And UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley talked about how the fight may turn out.

‘Suga’ thinks Sean Strickland’s fighting style is Adesanya’s kryptonite

Sean O’Malley, an active Youtuber, posted his reactions to watching the UFC 297 card. Like everybody else, the bantamweight champion felt the decision could have gone either way. “Hey that was a close fight,” ‘Suga’ said after the main event.

O’Malley was asked what he felt would be going through Adesanya’s mind after du Plessis called him out. The 29-year-old felt that the unexpected UFC 293 loss to Strickland would still be playing in ‘Izzy’s mind, who, ‘Suga’ felt, was shocked at the loss.

“I don’t know how what he’s [Adesanya is] thinking. I’m sure he’s thinking ‘that Sean Strickland fight was a f***ing tough fight’. Maybe he thinking ‘I just didn’t show up that night’. DDP is not going to be an easy fight [for Adesanya],” he said.

O’Malley felt that while Strickland was a stylistic nightmare for the Kiwi-Nigerian, he still had the ability to knock du Plessis out. “I feel like Izzy’s good enough to take anybody out. It’s just Strickland’s just so good at his style, and he was able to put Izzy on the back foot. But I don’t know if DDP is good enough [to beat Adesanya].”

“I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I wouldn’t be that surprised if he f***ing knocked out DDP,” the Montana native added. With UFC 297 behind, Sean O’Malley will be up soon on the big stage as he gears up to make his first bantamweight title defense.

‘Suga’ looking to avenge the only loss in his career at UFC 299

The only loss on Sean O’Malley’s record came at the hands of Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at their UFC 252 encounter back in 2020 after a leg kick shut down ‘Suga’s peroneal nerve, rendering one of his legs incapacitated. The bantamweight champion has never accepted the loss and has maintained that he is still undefeated.

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However, as soon as he became champion, the UFC chose ‘Chito’ for his first title defense. The two will rematch at UFC 299 next month with the winner expected to fight the winner of the upcoming Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo UFC 298 clash. What are your predictions for O’Malley-Vera and Dvalishvili-Cejudo?

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