Rising star and UFC bantamweight contender, Sean O'Malley, is unsure of when he will fight again following his first-round TKO victory over Raulian Paiva last month at UFC 269.
O'Malley recently spoke on his podcast The BrO'Malley show about what his 2022 could look like and said the following about not wanting to rush back into the cage, given that he's still dealing with a fractured thumb injury and wants to use the time to just improve as a martial artist.
“I can’t fight March 5, it’s too soon,” O’Malley said (h/t MMA Fighting). “And I don’t think they’re having a Vegas card in April, in May. I might not fight for a while. I look at it one way. If I don’t fight until June or July, it just gives me time to get better and improve. That’s where—I haven’t been able to train since my fight. I’ve had a f*cking fractured thumb since my fight. I haven’t been able to train, so I haven’t been able to improve since the fight until now. I get my cast off soon. That’ll give me a couple of months to improve. I’m not too worried about it, ideally, I get three fights in a year. That’s kind of where my head’s at. I don’t know if it’s more money or if it’s —ah, I think it’s competition, I love competing. But I just want to get back in the gym and improve. So if I only fight two, if I get one in July and November or December, I might only get two this year. Fight out the contract, and then boom, into 2023 with a fat f*cking contract and just go on a killing spree.”
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