O’Malley Mocks Cruz For UFC 269 Prelims Placement

Prior to getting booked to face Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 — which is set to go down on Dec. 11, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada — Sean O’Malley took his shot to call out former Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz for the same event.

Cruz, though, had other plans and declined the showdown, later revealing that he already had a date with Pedro Munhoz, a fighter O’Malley also wanted to tango with.

Now, all three combatants will fight next weekend, but it’s O’Malley who is getting the last laugh. During a recent interview with The Schmo (via MMA Fighting), “Suga” took a shot at Cruz — and Munhoz — for turning him down, reminding them that it’s him who got a slot on the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of the event, while they have been relegated to the “prelims.”

“He messed up,” O’Malley said of Cruz. “I called out him and Pedro Munhoz and now they’re on the prelims. I guess it doesn’t really matter. They’re gonna get paid the same whether they’re on the main card or the prelims, I’m gonna get paid the same whether I’m opening up the main card or the prelims, so as far as making money, it doesn’t really matter but for your ego, that’s got to hurt,” he added. “Being talked about as one of the best bantamweights ever and you’re on the prelims. I don’t even know if he’s headlining the prelims.”

According to this lineup, Josh Emmett and Dan Ige are headlining the undercard. But O’Malley didn’t stop with the petty shots, saying that there is a reason why Cruz vs. Munhoz didn’t make the PPV.

“Prelim Pedro vs. Dominick, it just makes sense down there. I haven’t talked to anybody that’s super excited for that fight. They’re both top-10 I’m pretty sure and me and Paiva aren’t even ranked and we’re opening up the main card, so I think it just goes to show I’m the unranked champ.”

With a win over Paiva, O’Malley is hoping to finally crack the Top 15. But not being there hasn’t seemed to hinder his popularity any because despite sitting on the outside looking in, “Suga” is doing pretty well for himself.

But it can always be better.