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O’Malley ‘Jealous’ Of Ultra-Successful Garbrandt

WHAT'S THE STORY?

UFC 222: O’Malley v Soukhamthath
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Sean O’Malley is “jealous” of Cody Garbrandt.

That may explain why “Suga” is infatuated with his fellow bantamweight veteran. Both O’Malley and Garbrandt held the 135-pound titles in their respective UFC careers — and both lost them convincingly against bitter rivals.

O’Malley to Merab Dvalishvili and Garbrandt to TJ Dillashaw.

“I would love to f*ck him up,” Garbrandt told MMA Fighting. “He just always talks sh*t. I think he has an infatuation with me. He’s so jealous of me and I can’t believe he became

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a world champion. He can’t wrestle for a lick, can’t defend a takedown. I mean, Merab straight bullied him. But he’s been calling me out forever, so I’ve been ready to fight that dude. I’ve got what it takes, I know how to beat this dude.”

Garbrandt and O’Malley were ready to throw hands all the way back in 2021.

“The way that I fight, it’ll be a bad night for him,” Garbrandt continued. “But that’s up to the UFC. I’ve tagged [UFC CEO Dana White], I tagged him in it. If that’s the next fight [matchmakers] want to do, I think that’s going to be a great pay-per-view fight, good drawing. He’s got a good fanbase, but they’re younger, you know, the Twitch people, the video games, but I’m a dog. I would love that fight.”

It would appear the feeling is not mutual.

Garbrandt, 34, is coming off back-to-back defeats to Deiveson Figueiredo and Raoni Barcelos and is no longer ranked in the 135-pound weight class. As for O’Malley, 30, he’s looking to rebound from a pair of title losses to Dvalishvili but remains ranked at No. 1 in his division.

“No Love” vs. “Suga” ... who wants it?

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