TJ Dillashaw on Sean O’Malley: “I don’t think he’ll become champion”

TJ Dillashaw does not think Sean O’Malley has what it takes to be a UFC champion.

The former UFC bantamweight champion and no. 2 ranked bantamweight contender spoke candidly to Submission Radio on O’Malley, saying he has been fed easy fights despite Dillashaw acknowledging that ‘Suga’ is a big draw.

“I don’t think he’ll become champion. He’s got too many holes,” Dillashaw said to Submission Radio. “And they’re just feeding him the right fights cause he’s a huge draw, right? 

“For one, they pumped him up, they put him in the UFC pump-up machine. They can do that to pretty much anyone if you have a little bit of character, if you can talk whatsoever, be a little bit colorful, they’ll pump you up. And he’s done a good job promoting himself. He’s done a really good job of that. And it takes work, man. When you see these guys that get pumped up, they’re also putting in the hard work. So, he does a good job of that.” 

Dillashaw then pointed to O’Malley’s TKO loss to Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC 252, and suggested if O’Malley reaches the top of the division maybe he will potentially fight him somewhere down the line.

Jorge Masvidal predicts Tyron Woodley will KO Jake Paul in upcoming boxing match

“But we see what happened as soon as he fought Chito. Chito is more of a top-ranked fighter, and [O’Malley] got finished in the first round,” Dillashaw said. “I mean, I don’t think that he will be champion, but he’s a good draw. Hopefully he can make it far enough to where I could use some of that thunder and get paid off it (laughs).”

While Dillashaw is open to stealing some of O’Malley’s momentum assuming a potential fight between the two comes to fruition, it would not be far-fetched to suggest that it will take some time (and some big wins from O’Malley) for that to occur.