UFC 332 Star Claims Sean OMalley Avoided UFC Fight House Fight
One of the bigger names on this weekend's UFC 332 card claims he wasslated to meet Sean O'Malley at The White House over the summer.
Scheduled to take place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, UT, UFC 332 is headlined by a fight for the vacant UFC women's flyweight belt between top contenders Natlia Silva and Cong Wang.
The original plan was for Valentina Shevchenko to headline the event in a potentially record-breaking title fight against Silva, but after "Bullet" was sidelined with an injury she elected to vacate the belt and allow the UFC to book a new matchup between Wang and Silva.
Payton Talbott Claims He Was Supposed to Fight Sean O'Malley at UFC Freedom 250
In the night's co-main event, Payton Talbott will try to add another ex-UFC champion to his list of wins when he takes on two-time flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo in huge bantamweight contest.
Boasting one of the more unique personalities in the UFC to go along with a fan-friendly fighting style, Talbott has won back-to-back fights after suffering a sizeable upset at the hands of Raoni Barcelos when the two men met at UFC 311 last year.
The 28-year-old's last outing saw him best future UFC Hall of Famer Henry Cejudo, and this week Talbott claimed that he was in line to meet former UFC Bantamweight Champion O'Malley at UFC Freedom 250 in June.
"Well, I was supposed to fight Sean [at The White House]," Talbott said on his YouTube channel. " I was supposed to fight him, I was supposed to fight her, all kinds of names. But supposedly, when I was supposed to fight them they all had a broken foot."
Sean O'Malley Knocked Out Aiemann Zahabi on UFC White House Card
Whether or not Talbott's claim is true, O'Malley did end up competing at The White House on June 14 as part of the seven-fight card billed as UFC Freedom 250.
"Suga" met Aiemann Zahabi on The South Lawn immediately before UFC Freedom 250's two title bouts, and in the second round O'Malley floored the Canadian to end Zahabi's seven-fight win streak and also secure his first finish since he knocked out Aljamain Sterling to win the UFC bantamweight belt in 2023.
The result left O'Malley on a two-fight win streak after he also defeated Song Yadong at UFC 324, which saw him return to the win column following back-to-back title fight losses against Merab Dvalishvili.
Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan & Merab Dvalishvili Set for Trilogy Fight at UFC 333
O'Malley and the rest of the division are currently waiting for former titleholder Dvalishvili to settle his trilogy with Petr Yan, who suffered a controversial upset-loss to "Suga" when the pair met at UFC 280.
The 31-year-old likely won't get a third crack at Dvalishvili but could argue for a rematch with Yan given the history between the two men, and Talbott and Figueiredo will also try to make their respective cases for a bantamweight title opportunity when they meet in the co-main event of UFC 332 this Saturday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/fannation/mma as UFC 332 Star Claims Sean O'Malley Avoided UFC Fight House Fight.