Henry Cejudo hints that bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley might’ve had issues during his UFC 306 training camp.
O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) defends his title against Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in Saturday’s Noche UFC (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) headliner at Sphere in Las Vegas. Cejudo, who also trains in Arizona, said he heard that O’Malley has struggled with his grappling sessions.
“He doesn’t know how to get off of bottom. He’s having trouble,” Cejudo said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Kamaru Usman. “I have three training partners that gone out there that’s all told me the same sh*t. Just like when I’m injured, he always knows, he’s tweeted out like, ‘Hey, when I lost to Merab Dvalishvili, he knew that I was injured.’
“That’s what happens when you live in the same city. People know other people that will say sh*t. … It’s a match made in heaven for a guy like Merab. He just needs to be here. He just needs to be careful in those (first) two rounds and as the fight goes on, I can see Merab Dvalishvili f*cking taking him out. Am I a snitch? Am I a snitch, Kamaru?”
Cejudo’s comments come after O’Malley decided to only make a 30-second appearance on his podcast and take a dig at him on the way out.
“Boys, you guys know that I’m a very, very busy man,” O’Malley said. “I’ll keep this short. I came here for two reasons. One, to praise you, Kamaru. You’re an absolute legend. And two, Henry, how did you let Aljo take you down so easy? You’re welcome!”
Cejudo is planning on dropping back down to flyweight next but would stick around at 135 pounds to fight O’Malley.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
