Henry Cejudo: Give O’Malley another shortcut and I’m out

Henry Cejudo has been claiming for a agelong clip that immoderate fighters successful the UFC person a privileged position.

Former bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley, with a grounds of 18-3, performs successful the co-headlining combat connected Saturday astatine the T-Mobile Arena successful Las Vegas, and his hostile is Song Yadong, with a grounds of 22-8-1. The large combatant "Suga" enters the lucifer nether unit arsenic helium tries to reconstruct his winning streak aft 2 defeats successful the loop fights against Merab Dvalishvili.

The concern astatine the apical of the bantamweight part abruptly changed. Petr Jan dethroned Dvalishvili astatine UFC 323, and O'Malley sees this arsenic a accidental to rapidly instrumentality to the rubric fight, particularly since helium already has a triumph implicit Jan from UFC 280. However, Cejudo believes that determination is simply a much logical campaigner for the adjacent onslaught connected the belt: Umar Nurmagomedov, with a people of 19-1, if helium passes Deiveson Figueiredo, 25-5-1.

Cejudo made it wide successful his podcast “Pound 4 Pound,” speaking with Kamaru Usman that successful his sentiment Nurmagomedov deserves the adjacent “title shot”:

“I deliberation Nurmagomedov is adjacent for the rubric for 2 reasons. One, helium had the closest combat with Merab Dvalishvili. Two, if Merab is nary longer the champion, past we person that ‘Russian connected Russian’ combat that I privation to see. They’ve been warring for a agelong time, Jan and Umar, 100 percent. No way… if they springiness it to O’Malley, I curse I’m not watching this anymore,” Cejudo said without hesitation.

Nurmagomedov oregon O’Malley

Meanwhile, Cejudo speculates that the UFC is readying a trilogy betwixt Jan and Dvalishvili due to the fact that their head-to-head grounds is 1-1. Dvalishvili was aiming for his 4th palmy rubric defence successful a twelvemonth earlier his nonaccomplishment to Jan successful December, but yet failed.

If O'Malley beats Song and the UFC instantly pushes him to the top, Cejudo believes it volition beryllium a classical leap successful the queue, portion Nurmagomedov remains the 1 waiting for his chance.