Sean O'Malley

Sean Zerillo breaks down Saturday's matchup between Pedro Munhoz and Sean O'Malley at UFC 276 (T-Mobile Arena).

Elsewhere, the pricing in this fight looks about right, and I wouldn’t necessarily include O’Malley in parlays. O’Malley fires straight punches in bunches, and he should be able to keep the range with his reach advantage and teep kicks. And while he does have several submission wins on his record, Munhoz has averaged just 0.57 takedowns per 15 minutes in UFC — and hasn’t completed a takedown since 2018. Despite Munhoz’s durability, however, O’Malley’s decision line is higher than his KO/TKO prop or inside the prop. Still, Munhoz’s primary skill (leg kicks) has been O’Malley’s kryptonite. 9/7/86

UFC bantamweight contender Sean O'Malley knows it's only onwards and upwards from here on out if he can get past Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276.

As it happens, Yan recently returned interest in a potential fight against O’Malley by daring the 27-year-old to call him out if “Sugar” defeats Munhoz tonight at UFC 276. O’Malley is set to face Munhoz on the UFC 276 main card. It’s pretty crazy to think about.

Sean O'Malley makes his return tonight to face Pedro Munhoz in a bantamweight fight on the UFC 276 main card. O'Malley vs. Munhoz will stream live only on.

Another right hand from O’Malley but then Munhoz fires back a leg kick. An eye poke from O’Malley causes a break in the action. Munhoz goes straight back to the leg kicks but then comes high with a kick afterward. A good start from Munhoz who has been targeting O’Malley’s legs. Front body kick from O’Malley is caught but then he comes in with a right hand that is blocked. O’Malley now jabbing to keep Munhoz away, who has been advancing after the reset.

Follow the UFC 276 live blog for the bantamweight main card fight between Pedro Munhoz and Sean O'Malley on Saturday in Las Vegas.

- UFC 276 Event T-Shirt In his eight UFC fights, O’Malley has gone 7-1, with six finishes, four Performance of the Night bonuses, and two Fight of the Night awards. That willingness to face anyone has hurt him in recent years though as Munhoz is 1-4 in his past five bouts, including a decision loss to current champion Aljamain Sterling. Munhoz looks to make one final title run by knocking off one of the sport’s most-hyped prospects.

LAS VEGAS -- In what was expected to be a moment of truth in Sean O'Malley's potential ascension from bright prospect to bantamweight title contender ended ...

The native of Montana, who fights out of Phoenix, Arizona, stopped all three of his opponents immediately after Vera yet admitted he was only willing to face a top-10 ranked opponent if UFC paid him commensurate to his perceived value. The Brazilian's offense consisted almost exclusively of calf kicks, many of which the 27-year-old O'Malley was able to check. The result was a largely anticlimactic affair for a matchup which featured plenty of tension between the two during fight week press events.

After a back-and-forth fight, Sean O'Malley and Pedro Munhoz had their fight ruled a no contest after an accidental eye poke.

The fight was gearing up to be a technical bout. O'Malley, a Helena native, accidentally poked his opponent Pedro Munhoz in the eye in the second round of their fight at UFC 276 in Las Vegas on Saturday. The fight was ruled a no contest after Munhoz was unable to see out of his poked eye. After a much-anticipated top-15 fight was on the books, Sean O'Malley's fight at UFC 276 ended in disappointing fashion.

See the top Twitter reactions to Sean O'Malley's no-contest with Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276.

An eye poke from Sean O'Malley left Pedro Munhoz unable to continue, which brought an end to their fight at UFC 276.

When O’Malley finally started unleashing his strikes, he was a sniper from the outside with a laser on his right hand and some kicks that nearly took Munhoz’s head off. It appeared O’Malley was somewhat hesitant to engage while Munhoz continued chopping away at his foundation with those repeated leg kicks. Time was called with referee Jason Herzog giving Munhoz an opportunity to try and recovery from the eye poke.

A bantamweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Pedro Munhoz kicks off tonight's UFC 276 main card from Las Vegas.

Pedro Munhoz with a low kick and then another. Another low kick from Munhoz. O’Malley with a jab and another. Another low kick from Munhoz. O’Malley with a body kick. O’Malley with a kick. O’Malley with a right but eats another low kick. Round two begins and Sean O’Malley lands a right hand.

Sean O'Malley has reacted after his UFC 276 bout with Pedro Munhoz was ruled a no-contest due to an accident eye poke.

Instead, the bantamweight bout proved to be more of a chess match that unfortunately ended in a no-contest. After trading a lot of kicks and some punches for the better part of seven minutes, the bout was waved off following an eye poke from ‘Suga’. The Brazilian was coming off back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo respectively.

Sean O'Malley took a shot at former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo after they had an altercation backstage at UFC 276 on Saturday night.

- UFC 276 Event T-Shirt - UFC 276 Liquid Silver Logo T-Shirt “He mumbled some words like [I was a tune-up fight],” O’Malley said. - UFC 276 Metallic Gold Logo T-Shirt Looks like he’s on drugs. When would you want to bend the knee?

Despite the scorecards having Pedro Munhoz ahead, Sean O'Malley believes his opponent wanted out of their UFC 276 fight, and used an eye poke as an excuse.

I was winning the fight. I can’t believe the judges ... I literally didn’t ... were they watching? I didn’t get hit one time, I was dominating that fight. “It’s a weird feeling because I do feel like I won the fight, but it’s not like the emotions of winning a fight. I thought we were going to be fighting in 20 seconds, I didn’t feel like the fight was going to be stopped. I don’t know.” I was dominating that fight.” I was piecing him up, I didn’t get hit once. “Initially, like when it happened, it didn’t feel like it was bad. But there was a shockwave of force visible in the slow-motion replays. He came in there and said, ‘I’m going to kick his legs and try to take him down.’ He tried kicking my legs and it damaged him more, he couldn’t get me up against the fence, he couldn’t get me down. He’s also not happy with the way the judges were scoring the fight.

Pedro Munhoz had his eye examined at a hospital after an accidental poke led to an unsatisfying end to his UFC 276 clash with Sean O'Malley.

In his post-fight interview, O’Malley stated that he believed Munhoz was looking for a way out. Munhoz has previously gone to decisions with multiple elite bantamweights, including Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, and current champion Aljamain Sterling. He also holds a first-round knockout victory over former UFC champion Cody Garbrandt. “To explain briefly what happened in the fight against Sean O’Malley, I was poked in the eye in the first round but kept fighting, and was hit with a low blow shortly after,” Munhoz said via Instagram (Portuguese translation by MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz). “The fight restarted and we exchanged a few strikes.

Sean O'Malley doesn't think Pedro Munhoz wanted to be in there with him at UFC 276, so he found a way out of the fight.

I was dominating that fight. I was dominating that fight. I was dominating that fight.” I was piecing him up. The physician also told Herzog there was damage to the eye. I was piecing him up.