Ilia Topuria Advises Sean O'Malley to Defend Title Before Moving Up a Division

While Ilia Topuria is eyeing another belt before defending his featherweight title, he has advised Sean O'Malley to defend the bantamweight strap once more before making a double-champ bid.

O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight title for the first time with a dominant unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera in the main event at UFC 299 on Saturday. Going into the fight, “Suga” had been rallying for a clash against Topuria if he defeated Vera.

O’Malley reiterated his callout in his post-fight Octagon interview while also keeping the door open for another bantamweight title defense against Merab Dvalishvili if the UFC wants to go in that direction.

“I want Illia. Baby, give me Illia… He’s a scary f—-ng dude. Illia excites me, going up a weight class excites me but I’m honestly here for whatever,” O’Malley said. If you guys want me to knockout Merab, I’ll do that too, but Illia is the exciting fight for the people.”

Dvalishvili, who was also the backup fighter for the UFC 299 headliner, is riding a 10-fight winning streak and widely considered to be rightful contender for the next shot at the 135-pound belt. While O’Malley hasn’t committed to anything for his next appearance, Topuria offered a little direction to the bantamweight champion in response on social media.

“Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! “ Topuria wrote on X. “There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first.”

Suga, congrats.. Was a beautiful performance! There is a fight chasing you with Merab.. Get that done first .

— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) March 10, 2024

While Topuria wants O’Malley to defend his strap a second time before moving up, the Spaniard called out Islam Makhachev and even Khabib Nurmagomedov immediately after dethroning Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 last month.