Suga does it again! Monster Energy congratulates Sean O’Malley on his knockout victory over Kris Moutinho at UFC 264 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night. In the Main Card fight in the bantamweight division, the 26-year-old from Helena, Montana stopped his opponent via TKO at 4:33 minutes of Round 3 and earned the UFC’s ‘Fight of the Night’ award worth $75,000.
UFC 264: Poirier vs McGregor 3 took place on Saturday night in front of 20,000 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and a global audience of PPV viewers. The fight was attended by several celebrities including singer Sia, actor Miles Teller, and former President Donald Trump.
O’Malley (14-1) was initially scheduled to face Louis Smolka at UFC 264. But Smolka was forced to pull out of the event due to injury in late June. On short notice, UFC newcomer Moutinho (9-5) from New England came in as the replacement. After previously knocking out Thomas Almeida at UFC 260 in March, O’Malley stepped into the Octagon as the betting odds favorite.
From the start, the fight unfolded with Moutinho pressuring O’Malley, only to receive precise counter punches and kicks to the head and body. At the end of Round 1, O’Malley landed a heavy right that rocked his opponent to the ground. O’Malley followed up with a grapple, but the round timed out before he could secure a submission.
In the second round, Moutinho continued to absorb heavy damage but kept coming at O’Malley, who retained the upper hand and landed significant shots that bloodied his adversary. The bout escalated late in Round 3 when O’Malley landed a series of debilitating strikes to Moutinho’s face that ended the contest.
With only 27 seconds left in the final round, referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight at 4:33 minutes, pronouncing O’Malley as the winner by TKO. The high energy fight also won O’Malley and Moutinho the UFC’s ‘Fight of the Night’ award worth $75,000.
“Kris is a tough motherf*cker. He took this fight on eleven days’ notice when a lot of other UFC fighters wouldn’t take this,” said O’Malley upon winning his Main Card fight at UFC 264, adding: “That’s a lot of head damage. He might not think that was a good stoppage but that might have saved him a couple of years on his life. I was about to put him out for good.”
Saturday night’s win brings O’Malley’s professional record to 14 wins and one loss, with ten wins earned by knockout. Before making his UFC debut in 2017, the Montana native made his mark in the Legacy Fighting Alliance franchise and earned a spot in Dana White’s Contender Series.
What’s next for O’Malley? In his post-fight interview inside the Octagon, the rising UFC star called out the biggest names in the bantamweight division, including Cody Garbrandt, Petr Yan, Dominick Cruz, and Rob Font. Stay tuned as Suga’s rise continues!
Sean “Suga” O’Malley counts amongst Monster Energy’s elite UFC athletes along with Brandon Moreno, Jon “Bones” Jones, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, Chris “The All American” Weidman, Daniel Cormier, Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley, Dominick “Dominator” Cruz, Yair Rodriquez, Rose Namajunas, Tony Ferguson, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Maycee “The Future” Barber, Paulo “The Eraser” Costa, Stipe “Stone Cold” Miocic, Michael Chandler, Jessica-Rose Clark, and Valentina Shevchenko.
For more on Monster Energy’s MMA athletes visit www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
