Petr Yan has accused Sean O'Malley of being a " Conor McGregor wannabe" ahead of their UFC 280 meeting.
O'Malley will make a huge step up this weekend when he takes on leading contender Yan in Abu Dhabi with the chance to earn a bantamweight title shot. The American star has built up a huge following on social media and is considered one of the most popular fighters on the roster due to his brash talking and eccentric persona.
Many have compared 'Suga' to UFC superstar McGregor who remains the biggest star in the promotion despite his absence through injury. And Yan has added to that by suggesting he plans to end his recent hype and believes he is the stronger fighter. “Considering the other side of things, you can definitely compare it to Conor-Aldo fight,” Yan told reporters at the UFC 280 media day.
“Sean is a UFC project and Conor wannabe, but the result of this matchup will be different. You saw my fight with Aldo already. I realise it’s three rounds, it’s a different distance. I need to be as focused as I was before, just need to be more sharp. No doubt he has good striking skills and a very unorthodox style, but if we consider the mental part of things, I believe that I’m stronger.”
McGregor has had a hugely successful career in the UFC with his remarkable rise peaking when he became UFC double champion before earning a lucrative boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather. However his career has tailed off ever since; losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier twice with just one win to his name since 2016.
O'Malley has the chance to make an equally rapid rise by beating the leading contender, who recently challenged for the title against Aljamain Sterling. Victory would see O'Malley leapfrog the Russian in the rankings and put himself in pole position to challenge the winner of Sterling's title defence against TJ Dillashaw on the same card this weekend.
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Although reluctant to directly compare himself to McGregor, O'Malley has previously claimed he would like to follow his rise to the top inside the octagon without "losing his mind". “I wanted to kind of get into the UFC and be that motherf***er," O'Malley said on the Raw Talk podcast with YouTuber Bradley Martin.
"Like, Conor was the first - I wanted to be that. Conor was that, which I thought was important for me to learn from and I think I’m going just go on a similar path, but take it to another level; like even further. “And hopefully, [I hope to] not lose my mind. I think Conor; I mean, he made $100m. You kind of try to stay humble, but it’s hard."
