Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Quinonez moved to UFC 248

An intriguing bantamweight bout between Sean O’Malley and Jose Quinonez has been shifted to UFC 248 from its original home at UFC 247.

O’Malley himself was the first to recently reveal that he was finally returning to the Octagon at UFC 247, which takes place on February 8 at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. However, MMAjunkie.com is now reporting that O’Malley will instead make his comeback at UFC 248, which is set for March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The reason for O’Malley vs. Quinonez being shifted to another card was not immediately clear, but perhaps the UFC matchmakers felt that UFC 247 had enough star power on it already and wanted to beef up UFC 248 a little bit.

When O’Malley meets Quinonez at UFC 248, it will be the first time he’s stepped into the Octagon since a March 3, 2018 decision win over Andre Soukhamthath at UFC 222, also in Las Vegas. O’Malley, the star of the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017, has only fought twice in the UFC, with his other bout taking place at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale in December 2017.

Two years ago, O’Malley appeared destined to be one of the UFC’s brightest young stars. But for nearly the last two years, O’Malley has dealt with numerous issues with USADA which have kept him out of the cage and unable to compete despite being in the prime of his career. He will finally get the chance to let out that frustration when he takes on Quinonez in what is the classic tune-up fight for O’Malley.

UFC 248 does not currently have the main event set, but rumors have suggested that UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya could take on Yoel Romero in the headliner. The co-main event sees UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang take on Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Who do you think wins, Sean O’Malley or Jose Quinonez?