Cody Garbrandt isn’t too offered on UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley simply but.
O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) defeated ex-champ Petr Yan to develop into No. 1 contender, knocked out Aljamain Sterling to develop into champion, and battered Marlon Vera in his first title protection.
Nevertheless, Garbrandt (14-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) thinks there are just a few asterisks that include these wins.
“He didn’t beat Yan, so let’s be trustworthy,” Garbrandt instructed MMA Junkie. “He was on condition that. The Aljo battle, I believe Aljo simply pushed, raced quick again to bantamweight. These weight cuts took a toll on him. As a champion, they wish to maintain you busy. … (Sterling) got here proper in, proper in entrance of him, sharp-shot him, caught him.
“So good on ‘Sugar’ Sean to be the champion, to beat Aljamain. Aljamain had an important run. The ‘Chito’ (Vera) battle was so-so for me. His first title protection, he went 5 rounds towards a man who gave him his first loss, however again story is ‘Chito’ didn’t have the most effective camp, was injured moving into. Who is aware of?”
O’Malley is focusing on Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) for his subsequent title protection. Garbrandt sees Dvalishvili as a take a look at to show if O’Malley is actually that good.
“I believe this Merab battle goes to be fairly attention-grabbing to see how legit ‘Sugar’ Sean is,” Garbrandt mentioned. “Can he stuff takedowns? Can he go the space in a higher-paced battle. ‘Chito’ didn’t attempt to take one takedown. That is blended martial arts.”
Garbrandt meets Deiveson Figueiredo (22-3-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 300 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) opener at T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
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