‘You Lost, Buddy!’

Pedro Munhoz isn’t buying what Sean O’Malley has been selling.

As one of the Bantamweight division’s brightest stars rising through the ranks, O’Malley has made a name for himself by being a supremely confident personality, who at the same time has backed up his words with stellar knockouts. However, one fight on the 27-year-old’s record indicates he isn’t the undefeated fighter he continually claims to be.

In Aug. 2020 at UFC 252, O’Malley was tasked with fellow 135 pound finishing machine, Marlon “Chito” Vera. After absorbing several leg kicks in round one, O’Malley ultimately succumbed to a stoppage loss after taking some elbows and punches on the ground, noting after the fight that he only lost due to a leg injury. Therefore making it not a real loss, according to “Sugar.”

“He’s from this new generation that is influenced by rappers on social media,” Munhoz told MMA Fighting. “So I believe this image of being undefeated is something that defines him as a person and an athlete, but it’s ridiculous. I’m telling you, I think that’s ridiculous. If you’re injured or not, if the fight was stopped or not, you lost, buddy.

“I’ve spent time with many guys that do this trash talk, and they do that as a way to promote themselves, but also as a form of insecurity. They have to talk to believe,” he continued. “But I don’t have anything against him. The times we were next to each other, he was never disrespectful. This is going to be my 19th fight in the organization and I think that every time I’m focusing on my process and daily training, I’m moving closer to my peak performance on fight night.”

Munhoz versus O’Malley kicks off the UFC 276 main card this weekend (Sat., July 2, 2022) in Las Vegas. For “The Young Punisher,” Munhoz looks to get back in the win column after back-to-back defeats to all-time greats, Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo.

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