Sean O'Malley Returns To The Octagon At UFC 250 Tonight, And He's Doing It In Style
Tonight, LIVE at UFC 250, Sean O'Malley returns to the scene of the knockout that earned him his UFC contract....
....and according to him, "The Suga Show" is feelin another finish that he could slap onto his highlight reel:
Sean O'Malley (and his coach Tim Welch) have been a friends of the program for a while; they've always been very kind to me, and we even did an episode of My Mom's Basement together a while back where we got stoned and went through a buncha 'Answer The Internet' style "HIGH-potheticals" in a shitty hotel room….
…and O'Malley has just been one of my favorite fighters/personalities in sport since his entry to the UFC regardless of all that, too. He's a hilarious dude and has a great mindset, look, social media presence, AND an unbelievably exciting fighting style. He just gets it.
Tonight, he's taking on an octagon veteran in Eddie Wineland, but I don't see him causing much trouble for Suga, and it doesn't look like Vegas does either. I'm seeing him around -465 right now after opening at -420 (lol). Can't wait to see how he gets it done.
Another friend of the program, Chase Hooper - the youngest fighter in the UFC (he's only 20 years old!) - is facing his biggest challenge to date in Alex Caceres (nicknamed "Bruce Leeroy" for his flashy and ninja-like style), and I think that fight is gonna be NUTS! Take a look at how Hooper's last fight went if ya don't believe me…
Caceres is one of those Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter "I'm gonna throw spinning shit!" fighters as well. This is the prelim main event on ESPN, should be on around 9:30pm ET, and I'm telling you right now to look out for it.
I'm taking my guy Chase Hooper at -190, and if you could get him by submission, I can tell you from personal experience that he's got a devastating ground game….
Some of my other favorite fights on the card for me include back-to-back bantamweight bouts Aljamain Sterling vs Cory Sandhagen and the co-main Raphael Assuncao vs Cody Garbrandt!
UFC Bantamweight Champion Henry Cejudo just retired a few weeks ago pretty unexpectedly, leaving the title vacant and the division in a bit of a frenzy, so both of these fights are massively important beyond just being awesome matchups. I like Assuncao +135 in the co-main and Aljo -110 in the fight prior. I know we're hearing so much about Garbrandt's improved composure and all that but I just don't buy it. Oh, and as for Aljo, I don't think you can lose after Ray Longo sends you the most wholesome video of all time….
At welterweight, Neil Magny makes a quick turnaround to take on Anthony Rocco Martin, and I think that activeness and comfortability with everything surrounding fight week at this point will give Magny an advantage here, so I'll be siding with him in that one. C'monnnn ring rust!
Obviously, in the main event, Amanda Nunes takes on Felicia Spencer in attempt to defend her UFC Featherweight Championship, and Nunes is currently listed around -500, which pretty much says all that needs to be said about that matchup. Nunes is the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time, and tonight we're watching to see if she could extend her legacy in devastating fashion, similar to how she won the title…
There's a ton of other great fights that are flying below the radar as well, including Cody Stamann vs Brian "Boom" Kelleher, which we should get some fireworks outta…
….and I'm absolutely stoked across the board for UFC 250. I hope you are too.
I'll toss out my full slate of picks at 6pm ET when the prelims begin on UFC Fight Pass, and remember: you'll be able to watch prelims on regular ESPN starting at 8pm ET, and the PPV starts at 10pm ET.
Check out my latest with UFC President Dana White below….