Alexandre Pantoja Suggests Champion vs. Champion Bout Against Sean O’Malley

Newly UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley has been called out by another recently-crowned champion in the promotion.

In a post on Instagram, UFC flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja asked his followers who should be his next opponent. One of the suggested names was O’Malley, who captured the 135-pound belt with a first-round knockout of Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. Pantoja agreed that a champion vs. champion clash would be interesting while implying that he got the better of “Sugar” during a past training session.”

"There's something I really want: to fight this guy (O'Malley). I desire to move up one weight class to fight Sugar Sean O'Malley. He talks too much, talks a lot of trash,” Pantoja said. “I trained with him once, he recorded the sparring, but he never sent me the video. You know why.”

It didn’t take long for O’Malley to respond via social media.

"It's definitely not cool to call out people below you in weight,” O’Malley wrote. “So I (definitely) won't even mention that I'd knock Alex Pantoja out…. Again.”

It’s def not cool to call out ppl below you in weight so I def won’t even mention that I’d knock Alex Pantoja out…. Again

— Sean O'Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) August 24, 2023

Pantoja claimed flyweight gold by defeating Brandon Moreno via split decision at UFC 290 on July 8. Neither Pantoja nor O’Malley have their next challenger set at this time.