A seemingly routine sparring session between a young Sean O’Malley and one UFC champion has caused uproar within the MMA community this week.
Vastly different stories have emerged as O’Malley struck back following a story of being ‘smashed’ in a training bout by Alexandre Pantoja. The flyweight champion is as a result of defend his belt tomorrow night at UFC 301 against Steve Erceg.
But one sparring match from over half a decade ago has kept rearing its head because the fight moves closer. The 125lb champion has noted that he has “history” along with his bantamweight counterpart, and recounted the aftermath of the meeting.
Alexandre Pantoja claims he ‘smashed’ Sean O’Malley in sparring
The as-yet-unseen sparring footage was first brought back to the general public’s attention in an interview with the Recent York Post when Pantoja told a story from the gym. He claims that the incident was recorded, but that he was never sent videos after the very fact.
Pantoja, after chatting with a friend who had seen the spar occur live, believes that the explanation he has been kept from the footage is that he “smashed” the longer term bantamweight champion.
On the time each men were young of their respective careers after breaking into the UFC through Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter. And Pantoja says he got the higher of O’Malley during their transient session.
“He said some bad things about that [sparring] but that’s crazy because he recorded the sparring and at the top of coaching I said, ‘Hey send to me the video after which I can see our training’ and he never passed the training to me.”
“I asked [his friend] ‘Are you able to talk along with your friend for send the video’, and he said to me ‘Hey, he’s not going to send to you bro, you smashed him’.”
Sean O’Malley’s coach sheds latest light on infamous Alexandre Pantoja sparring
O’Malley has disputed that series of events, but one third party who can have clearer knowledge of the situation has made his feelings clear. Coach Tim Welch has told fans that the dispute comes right down to the bantamweight landing a giant liver kick which caused a brief stoppage within the motion.
Pantoja had been dropped at the gym by legendary two-weight world champion Henry Cejudo, who suggested that the pair spar. Speaking on his stream, Welch recalled: “Henry wanted Pantoja to spar ‘Suga’ one round. Me and ‘Suga’ were probably taking bong rips the night before.
“We were snacking out, probably not in fight camp in any respect. Going to sparring possibly to get just a few rounds and Henry’s like, ‘Hey, you desire to spar this guy?’ So Sean says, ‘Yeah, I’ll spar him.’ They spar one round.
“Sean comes out off the rip, puts him down. Puts him down in the primary minute. Now mind you that is, I don’t even remember what yr that is, I don’t even think Sean was knowledgeable yet, he may need been knowledgeable just breaking in.
“So while you go from three-minute rounds as an amateur to five-minute rounds it’s a giant jump and the pacing is different. All the things’s different, it’s way longer of a fight.
“Sean comes on the market, bounces around, young buck. Boom, hits him with a liver shot, puts him down, Pantoja has to stop, he has to wave it off, he has to go over to Henry, kneel down, call it off. I mean there’s a video, never released video but he puts him down.”
Welch then clarified that had the pair been in a real skilled fight, Pantoja likely would have battled through that kick. But he noted previous O’Malley fights against Eddie Wineland and Thomas Almeida, who’re larger athletes, where an identical kick led to a stoppage through other means shortly after.
Sean O’Malley gives his tackle Alexandre Pantoja sparring session
In response to Pantoja’s recent comments, O’Malley simply declared on X that the session was finished quickly. He posted the transient message “Twas a primary round TKO,” in response to a viral clip of the Recent York Post interview.
O’Malley has since teased the discharge of the footage, asking fans on X: “Pantoe Keeps bringing up the sparring from like 6 years ago, Not me. Should I post or no?” He later added “Might make highlight reel n post. Idk.”
And in an old episode of The BrO’Malley podcast, the bantamweight gave more details, saying: “Does he want me to post it? I finished him in the primary round. I can post that, I wasn’t going to bring it up, if that’s what he wants. That’s funny – I mean, does he forget the way it played out?”
“I’ll say within the third round he choked me,” admitted O’Malley, before adding how on the time, “I used to be like 1-0 or 2-0 as a professional, he was coming off ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ making his UFC debut… I used to be f****** smoking joints the night before.”
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