Sean O'Malley delivers 8-word response to Ilia Topuria following UFC Singapore

Ilia Topuria and Sean O’Malley have both captured the MMA community’s attention with their recent impressive performances inside the octagon. Despite competing in different weight divisions, a dispute arose between the two fighters, leading to a fiery exchange of words on social media.

After O’Malley’s notable win against Aljamain Sterling, Ilia took to X (Twitter) with a threatening message directed at O’Malley. This sparked a series of exchanges between the two fighters, resulting in Sugar delivering an 8-word response to Topuria after the UFC Singapore Fight Night.

Sean O’Malley responds to Ilia Topuria

During yesterday’s UFC Fight Night in Singapore, a lineup of captivating matchups unfolded including a main event starring The Korean Zombie versus Max Holloway. The headliner not just seized the audience’s attention, but also the focus of Ilia Topuria.

El Matador, paying respect to both Korean Zombie and Max Holloway, expressed his opinion that it might be time for the two veteran fighters to consider retirement. The Georgian fighter also conveyed his hopes for O’Malley’s continued rise and hinted at the possibility of a future matchup between them.

Ilia Topuria sees a fight with UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley as “too easy of a challenge.”

Who wins if they fought? #UFC #MMATwitter #SeanOmalley pic.twitter.com/6TjvS00BDT

— MMA UNCENSORED (@MMAUNCENSORED1) August 26, 2023

However, Sugar appeared to take issue with Topuria’s suggestion that he should “keep rising,” while he had just secured the bantamweight title a week ago at the TD Garden in Boston defeating The Funk Master.

The new champion of the 135-lb division replied to the featherweight title contender by saying, “I have risen. Your turn to rise up.” Although neither Sugar nor Topuria indicated a potential shift of divisions, there seems to be a strong animosity between them.

🚨 Newly crowned UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O'Malley told Stephen A. Smith that he would love to fight Ilia Topuria at 145 if he beats Alexander Volkanovski and becomes the UFC Featherweight Champion. 😬

via @espnmma / @stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/BYCG039qMn

— Giorgi Kokiashvili 🇬🇪 (@iHeartGeorgius1) August 21, 2023

Bantamweight champ to decide on Topuria call-out

Ilia appears to be gearing up for his bout against reigning 145-lb champion Alexander Volkanovski. It’s not every day that a fighter yet to fight for the title gets called out by the champion of another division, but that just goes to show the level Topuria has reached/

Sean has a lot of potential contenders in his own division including Cory Sandhagen, Chito Vera, Henry Cejudo, Merab Dvalishvili, etc. With so many contenders waiting on the sidelines, it’s unlikely we will see a fight against Ilia unless he too becomes a champ.