Sean O'Malley has given fellow UFC champion Islam Makhachev his flowers.
Bantamweight champ O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), who defends his title against Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the UFC 306 main event Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas, has goals of becoming the greatest of all time.
When asked whom he thinks is the current best fighter, O’Malley shared the same opinion as the panel in charge of the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings: Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC), who is currently tied for most lightweight title defenses all time at three.
“Greatest fighter right now? Probably Islam (Makhachev),” O’Malley told Helen Yee. “I mean, Jon Jones is up there. I think Jon’s fought once in the last four, five years. Jon Jones is up there of the greatest of all time, but right now who’s the greatest? Like, who has been active last four years or whatever, I think its Islam, but Jon Jones is always going to be in the conversation.”
Not only does O’Malley want to be the greatest fighter of all time, but he also aspires to be the biggest star.
“Right now it’s Conor McGregor, 100 percent,” O’Malley told ESPN on the who the biggest star is. “He’s a dork, but it’s the truth. For me to get to that, I go out there and knock out Merab, I go up to ’45, I beat Ilia (Topuria), I beat Max (Holloway), I beat Umar (Nurmagomedov), I’m three fights away from being considered one of the greatest of all time, one of the most exciting of all time. There’s a difference.
“No one thinks Conor’s the greatest fighter of all time. He was lacking skills. He lacked title defenses, but entertainment-wise, he’s the best in the world. Entertainment-wise, he was the best. Greatest fighter of all time, Jon Jones, Khabib (Nurmagomedov), Islam, (all) up there. I want to be both. I want to be one of the greatest of all time, and one of the most entertaining of all time. That’s my goal.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
