Cory Sandhagen continues to take umbrage with Sean O’Malley not wanting to fight him.
Sandhagen (18-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) has called out former bantamweight champion O’Malley (19-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) several times, but O’Malley insists the UFC never offered him the fight.
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O’Malley meets Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 at the White House, a fight Sandhagen thought should have been his. He criticized O’Malley’s mentality and accused him of taking the easy road.
“Sean as a person, I’m not going to carry any hatred toward him or jealousy or anything like that. I like Sean as a person,” Sandhagen said in an interview with Daniel Cormier. “As a fan, I don’t think the way that type of character or whatever is interesting or inspiring at all. One of the biggest gifts that we have as athletes to give to people is inspiration to like go do something cool with your life, too. That means stepping up to the plate, taking big risks like I have in my entire career.
“I do it for me, but I also do it because inspiring and giving back. That’s one of the few ways I get to do that in this sport is by inspiring people. ‘Why would you take a fight against Umar? He’s down in the rankings.’ Because if I win, I get to inspire a bunch of people. If I go out and beat Merab (Dvalishvili) or I beat (Petr) Yan, I get to inspire a bunch of people because I know I took the hard road to get here. O’Malley is not about that life, so I can’t be a fan of that dude in that way.”
Sandhagen, who’s coming off a title loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 320, is adamant he can beat O’Malley at his own game.
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“It’s the only fight that makes sense for both of us,” Sandhagen said. “Two, I like the fight. I know that I’ll beat O’Malley. I know a lot of people are like, ‘Cory is going to take him down. He’s going to wrestle.’ I’ll outstrike O’Malley, too. We’ve got egos. I know I’m better than him. I want to go beat him, and I want to prove that I’m the better striker, I’m the better fighter just all around in general.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Cory Sandhagen: Sean O’Malley ‘is not about that life’
