Sean O’Malley shares reason for declining a fight with Frankie Edgar

Sean O’Malley was recently offered his biggest fight yet.

This past weekend the UFC revealed the first batch of fights set to take place at UFC 268 on Nov. 6 in Madison Square Garden. Among the bunch was a bantamweight tilt between Frankie Edgar and Marlon “Chito” Vera.

However, Vera wasn’t the UFC’s original choice to take on the former lightweight champion.

“I feel like I’m in a position where if you want me to fight in New York, and I don’t want to fight in New York, I’m not gonna fight in New York,” O’Malley told The Schmo (h/t MMA Junkie). “I’m in that position, and I had that conversation, and we’re good now.

“But yeah, I got offered a fight in New York against Frankie, and I said if Frankie wants to get whooped, he can get whooped in Vegas in December, a month later. They want Frankie to fight in New York, so they gave him ‘Chito’. Getting the ‘Suga Show’ against Frankie would’ve been a great fight for me, but I’m not too worried about it.”

Sean O’Malley (14-1) last fought at UFC 264 on July 10 when defeating Kris Moutinho via third-round TKO. The victory put O’Malley back on a winning streak after suffering his first and only career defeat to the aforementioned Vera in August 2020.