ABU DHABI – Sean O'Malley doesn’t think Petr Yan wanted to fight him.
The rising UFC star believes the former UFC bantamweight champion was forced into taking a fight with him at Saturday’s UFC 280 pay-per-view event. Despite being the underdog coming into the contest, O’Malley (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) says Yan (16-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) was likely going to turn him down but was instead forced by the UFC into agreeing to the matchup.
“He was the only guy after that Pedro Munhoz fight (when) I went back to the UFC and said, ‘Hey, I want to book a fight,'” O’Malley told reporters at the UFC 280 media day. “Obviously that wasn’t a satisfying victory. Petr was literally the only guy in the top 10 without a fight.
