Garbrandt Fires Back At ‘Infatuated’ O’Malley, Claims Sterling ‘Mops The Canvas With You’

Sean O’Malley may be on the cusp of his first-ever UFC title shot against reigning UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling tomorrow night (Sat., Aug. 19, 2023) at UFC 292 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside TD Garden in Boston, Mass., but that hasn’t stopped “Suga” from mixing it up with another rival, Cody Garbrandt, during fight week.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that an injury to Garbrandt would prevent “No Love” from competing in his scheduled bout against Mario Bautista this weekend at UFC 292. The former UFC bantamweight champion was coming off a win in his last outing and was hoping to capture a key victory over Bautista on one of the biggest PPV cards of the year.

As expected, O’Malley had some choice words about Garbrandt’s removal from the event. The two share a turbulent past and are unlikely to break bread anytime soon. So when Garbrandt was forced off the same card that O’Malley was competing on it left “Suga” with the opportunity to throw shade in the direction of “No Love.”

“Some people aren’t built for this,” O’Malley said on his TimboSugarShow podcast. “Remember when he said that against me? I was just like, ’That was mean, man. That was mean.’ You get injured, injuries happen. I got injured during a fight then he said some people aren’t built for this. He got injured before the fight. Which, you know what, hopefully, it’s nothing serious because that sucks. Mario would have put him on his butt. It would have been fun. Press conference would have been fun.

“I did KO him at the [first] presser,” he concluded. “Maybe he’s like, ‘I just can’t make it.’ It probably worked out best for Cody.”

After learning about O’Malley’s comments it didn’t take long for Garbrandt to respond. It’s a shame that a lingering back injury will prevent “No Love” from fighting at UFC 292, but he seems ready to challenge O’Malley after this weekend.

“He has a weird infatuation with me,” wrote Garbrandt via Twitter. “You can get it once Aljo mops the canvas with you @SugaSeanMMA.”

Thoughts? Are we ever going to see O’Malley vs. Garbrandt or is this it?

Sound off!

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