Raul Rosas Jr.: Sean O’Malley Championship Reign Bad for Deserving Title Contenders

Raul Rosas Jr. believes that while Sean O'Malley brings a lot of attention to the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division, there is also a downside to his championship reign.

O’Malley (17-1) won the title with a highlight-reel knockout win over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August. “Sugar” is now set to defend his strap at UFC 299 in March in a rematch against Marlon Vera (21-8-1), who handed the champ his lone professional loss in 2020. The booking happened mainly based on the history between the two, even though Sterling’s teammate Merab Dvalishvili, who is on a nine-fight win streak, is widely considered to be the rightful contender.

While “El Nino Problema” (8-1) acknowledged the attention O’Malley’s stardom brings to the division, he believes “Sugar” might hold up the title shots of rightful contenders who are tough stylistic matchups for him.

“The truth is that there are a lot of tough styles for him that are in title contention in my opinion, Merab being one of them. So, let’s see what happens... Him being champion, in a way it’s bad for the division, for the guys that truly deserve to fight for the title. But at the same time, it’s also good for the division because he brings a lot of attention,” Rosas Jr. recently told MMA Junkie.

Rosas Jr. also believes Vera can beat O’Malley again, especially going in with the confidence of having defeated him before. However, judging by O’Malley’s performance against Sterling, the Santa Rosa, Calif. native believes the champ is at his peak right now.

“I think that Chito can beat him, but the truth is that the way I saw Sean O’Malley in his last fight, I think this is his best moment, so I think he’s more dangerous than when Chito fought him the first time. However, I also feel Chito broke him a bit, and having that is good. Chito knows he broke him once, so entering a second fight, that’s going to help him,” Rosas Jr. said.