SEAN O’MALLEY has vowed to catapult himself into bantamweight title contention by busting up Petr Yan.
The latest instalment of the Suga Show will see the UFC 280 card in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
O’Malley’s placing and opponent for the showpiece card have been viewed by many as a potentially huge career lay-up.
And the enigmatic and colourful striker plans to emphatically grab the opportunity with both hands,
When asked for his prediction for the fight, O’Malley told SunSport: “I’m a bust him up.”
Busting Russian wrecking machine Yan will be no easy feat.
In fact, O’Malley will likely have to turn in a career-best performance to get the better of a dogged and determined Yan.
Yan, 29, is 1-2 in his last three fights – with two of those defeats coming at the hands of current UFC champion Aljamain Sterling.
Yan is planning to take his frustrations out on polarising perfectionist O’Malley, whose credentials have been questioned ahead of fight night.
Some fight fans reckon the No.11-ranked O’Malley is not deserving of the opportunity to lock horns with the former champion.
That notion baffles 27-year-old O’Malley, who said: “I’m the biggest name in the bantamweight division.”
The intrigue in O’Malley’s desert dust-up with Yan is on par with champion Sterling’s title defence against former titleholder TJ Dillashaw – which serves as the card’s showpiece bout.
But in the eyes of O’Malley, the interest in his second outing of the year far outweighs that in Sterling vs Dillashaw.
He said: “It’s the biggest fight they could’ve made. It makes sense to me.
“It’s the biggest fight in the bantamweight division right now, so I think it makes sense.”
