Sean O’Malley thinks Cody Garbrandt caught a break by pulling out of UFC 292.
Garbrandt was scheduled to face Mario Bautista on Saturday’s main card at TD Garden in Boston, but was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury. O’Malley headlines the card when he challenges bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling for the title.
Having trained with Bautista (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) for years, O’Malley says it wouldn’t have ended well for Garbrandt (13-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), who O’Malley was on a collision course with a few years ago. The pair traded barbs during the UFC 269 press conference, and even faced off despite not being scheduled to fight.
“Some people aren’t built for this. Remember when he said that against me?” O’Malley said on his Timbo Sugar Show podcast. “That was mean, man. You get injured, injuries happen. I got injured during a fight and then you said, ‘Some people aren’t built for this.’ He got injured before the fight.
“Hopefully it’s nothing serious. That sucks, dude. Mario was about to put him on his butt. It would have been fun – press conference would have been fun. I did f*cking KO him at the (UFC 269) presser. Maybe he’s like, ‘F*ck, I can’t make it.’”
Bautista will remain on the card and face short-notice replacement Da’Mon Blackshear, who submitted Jose Johnson with a rare twister submission this past Saturday at UFC on ESPN 51.
Bautista has finished his past three opponents in the first round, so O’Malley expected a bad night for Garbrandt.
“He’s very dangerous,” O’Malley said. “Yeah, it probably worked out best for Cody.”
UFC 292 takes place Saturday at TD Garden in Boston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
