He can’t be stopped! Monster Energy congratulates Sean “Suga” O’Malley on defeating Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 in Las Vegas on Saturday night. In the Main Card fight in the bantamweight division, the 27-year-old from Helena, Montana finished his opponent with a spectacular first-round knockout that earned the UFC’s $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus.
Earlier on the Prelims card, Monster Energy’s Dominick “Dominator” Cruz went the distance against Pedro Munhoz for an unanimous decision victory in a bantamweight division bout that won the UFC’s ‘Fight of the Night’ Bonus.
UFC 269: Oliveira vs Poirier took place on Saturday night in front of 20,000 spectators at sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The last major UFC event of the year was broadcast live on ESPN pay-per-view to a global audience and attended by numerous celebrities including actor Jared Leto.
In the opening fight on the main card, Monster Energy’s O’Malley (15-1) came in as the betting odds favorite after knocking out Kris Moutinho at UFC 264 in July. He faced one of the toughest tests of his career in Raulian Paiva (21-4) from Brazil, who stepped into the Octagon on a three-fight winning streak.
It only took one round for O’Malley to add another spectacular finish to his record. From the start, the rising MMA star evaded Paiva’s leg kicks and fired back with jabs and one-two combinations from a distance. As the energetic Las Vegas crowd chanted “Sean O’Malley”, he landed a huge right hand that wobbled his opponent.
From that moment, O’Malley pressed on with damaging combinations that rendered Paiva defenseless. Referee Jason Herzog called an end to the fight at 4:42 minutes with O’Malley as the winner by TKO. The knockout marks the only time Pavia has lost by KO in his eight years as a professional and earned O’Malley the UFC’s $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus.
In his post-fight interview, O’Malley revealed that he almost withdrew from the fight against Pavia because of a rib injury. “I haven’t grappled or sparred in three weeks. I was laying in bed one night, 99 percent sure I was going to pull out of this fight. I couldn’t grapple, I couldn’t spar. All I could do was run and hit mitts and I just knew how many people wanted to come out here and wanted to watch me fight and I just couldn’t pull out,” said Monster Energy’s O’Malley at UFC 269.
Saturday night’s win brings O’Malley’s professional record to 15 wins and one loss, with a whopping eleven wins earned by knockout. The Montana native made his mark in the Legacy Fighting Alliance franchise before making his UFC debut in 2017. He earned a spot in Dana White’s Contender Series and counts among the sport’s rising stars.
What’s next for O’ Malley? “I want to fight Petr Yan. I know he’s the champ and you have to beat certain people to get that fight, but that’s a fight I want eventually,” said O’Malley in his post-fight interview.
Earlier on the night’s preliminary card, Monster Energy’s Dominick Cruz (24-3) battled Brazil’s Pedro Munhoz (19-7) for three rounds. In the bantamweight division bout, Cruz survived a difficult first round against Munhoz, who stunned and dropped the ex-champion several times in the opening minutes.
Despite absorbing massive damage, Cruz regained control and proceeded to out-strike his opponent for the rest of the fight. Cruz landed heavy blows and kept hitting Munhoz with fast combos all the way to the final seconds of the epic showdown. When all was said and done, Cruz earned the victory by unanimous decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). The bout also received the UFC’s coveted “Fight of the Night” bonus.
Cruz now commands a two-fight win streak after his split decision victory over Casey Kenney at UFC 259 in March. In his post-fight interview, the former bantamweight champion said: “Thank you to the ref, Marc Goddard, for giving me a chance to rebound. That’s good reffing tonight.”
Sean “Suga” O’Malley and Dominick “Dominator” Cruz count amongst Monster Energy’s elite UFC athletes along with Kamaru Usman, Jon “Bones” Jones, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, Chris “The All American” Weidman, Rose Namajunas, Tony Ferguson, Marlon Vera, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Maycee “The Future” Barber, Paulo “The Eraser” Costa, Stipe “Stone Cold” Miocic, Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, Jessica-Rose Clark, Valentina Shevchenko, Brandon Moreno, and Giga “Ninja” Chikadze.
For more on Monster Energy’s MMA athletes visit www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
