Sean O’Malley Will Face Kris Moutinho At UFC 264

UFC 264 will take place on July 10th, 2021 headlined by the lightweight trilogy between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Accompanying them on this pay-per-view card is UFC rising star turned mainstay Sean O’Malley.

O’Malley was scheduled to face Luis Smolka, who has amassed a 3-2 UFC record with all three wins coming via stoppage, but was forced withdraw from the bout due to an undisclosed injury.

With this short notice opportunity to face one of the sport’s biggest stars came plenty of bids from a number of fighters. The only bid that turned into a buy was newcomer Kris Moutinho‘s, who will now face O’Malley on short notice via one of the biggest pay-per-view cards of the year.

O’Malley will welcome Moutinho to the UFC, who is 9-4 professionally and has won his last two bouts with the CFFC. Not only is this a short notice opportunity of a few weeks, but Moutinho just fought on May 28th, so this will mark one of his quickest professional turnarounds.

As for O’Malley, he has gained traction across the macro of the sport and at just 26 years of age, he looks to be apart of the UFC’s plans at bantamweight for the foreseeable future. He suffered his first professional loss against Marlon Vera at UFC 252, but answered with a knockout win over Thomas Almeida at UFC 260.

With just a few weeks to prepare, does Kris Moutinho have a live chance to halt the metaphorical train that is Sean O’Malley?