One of the brightest young stars in the UFC will be competing on the undercard of the fight of the year.
Undefeated bantamweight Sean O'Malley (10-0) revealed on Monday's episode of Ariel Helwani's MMA Show that he will be taking on José Alberto Quiñónez (7-2) at UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas. The event is headlined by a lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
O'Malley also said he and the UFC agreed on a new four-fight contract.
"I'm going to go out there and knock this kid out and renegotiate again," O'Malley said. "I was trying to fight Alejandro Perez (21-6-1), but he's out until December with an injury so they called his cousin José Quiñónez and he accepted the fight. He's on a four-fight win streak in the UFC. I'm going to go out there and bounce his head off the canvas. Open up the main card is what I was told."
Many believe UFC 229 will be one of, if not the, most purchased pay-per-views in UFC history.
It has been quite the whirlwind year for O'Malley. Following an appearance (and win) on the inaugural season of Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series last July, he got the call up to fight on The Ultimate Fighter Finale at the end of the year, securing a win over Terrion Ware (17-8). He followed it up with a unanimous decision victory over Andre Soukhamthath (12-6) at UFC 222 this past March.
"I think my fight and then Conor's fight will be two of the biggest fights," O'Malley said. "Obviously, that pay-per-view will be one of the biggest of all time and I can't say it's because of me, because Conor and Khabib is what it really comes down to. I was really hoping to get on the last fight on the FOX card -- kind of be my own main event -- but I think opening up the Conor card is something in itself."
