Sean O’Malley Explains Why He’s On The UFC 269 PPV & Dominick Cruz Is On The Prelims

Sean O’Malley is reveling in the fact he will feature in the pay-per-view portion of UFC 269 while former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will compete on the prelims.

‘Suga’ will open this Saturday’s UFC 269 main card when he takes on #15 ranked bantamweight Raulian Paiva. Earlier in the evening Pedro Munhoz and Dominick Cruz will square off on the ESPN+ preliminary card, despite the fact they are both higher ranked at 135lbs.

O’Malley finds the fact he is ahead of Cruz quite amusing, especially after the bantamweight legend refused a fight with him.

“I let a little giggle out it just because I remember Dominick Cruz saying something, trying to teach young fighters how to promote, just something like that, how to do something,” O’Malley said on The MMA Hour. “It’s Dominick Cruz, the dude’s a legend, I can’t sit here and disrespect him, but he’s on the prelims. The UFC stacks the card in a specific way for a reason, you know what I mean?

“If they thought Dominick Cruz and Pedro Munhoz could sell more pay-per-views than me, they’d put him on the main card. I think it’s just the UFC’s a business and they understand what they’re doing, so they’re there because they’re there.”

Sean O’Malley On Why He’s So Popular.

The 27-year-old has become one of the most recognizable people in MMA despite never picking up a win over a ranked opponent. O’Malley believes it is his fighting style rather than anything else that has allowed him to stand out from the crowd.

“I think it’s my performances, I really do,” O’Malley said. “All the talk, all the hair, all the whatever, the face tats, all of those things are just additives, I think. My performances, you just want to watch me fight. I move different than people, I think that that’s what it really is.

“But I could be wrong. It could be my beautiful smile.”

Do you think Sean O’Malley deserves his spot on the UFC 269 main card?