Suga-free UFC? Sean O’Malley needs ‘good amount of time off’ for jump to featherweight

Former UFC bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley, will “finally” leap to the 145-pound weight class.

However very similar to reigning heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones, who benched himself in an effort to acquire measurement and energy at an inexpensive fee, “Suga” will probably want “a superb period of time off” to get his physique accustomed to a heavier body.

And the challenges that include sustaining it.

“It’s gonna take … a superb little period of time off, a superb period of time off to placed on an actual, five-pounds of muscle,” O’Malley’s head coach, Tim Welch, advised Submission Radio. “5 kilos of muscle that you’ve got cardio in and that you simply’re sturdy and explosive. Not simply placed on 5 kilos of muscle in 10-12 weeks after which strive to enter a coaching camp and combat with that. Take a while to simply be taught to hold that new weight, possibly stroll round at 165 kilos. So simply take a while off, construct up, and we’ve got a bunch of 145-pound killers that we will prepare with so he’s used to the scale, in order that’s in all probability what the plan can be.”

Don’t overlook about these abilities, bro.

“It’s so arduous to say [what the future holds], each single combat I’m similar to, you by no means know when could possibly be the final combat, you by no means know what’s gonna (expletive) occur in these fights,” Welch continued. “You by no means know what sort of accidents are gonna occur, in coaching camp, within the combat, you by no means know, so it’s enjoyable to simply sit there and take into consideration what could possibly be, what may occur in a yr or two. However realistically, proper now, we’re simply specializing in attempting to get wholesome, give attention to this subsequent combat, after which take into consideration what’s subsequent. However, you by no means know. With a man like Sean, the sky’s the restrict. It could possibly be something: 145, massive fights, it could possibly be boxing matches, who is aware of? No matter is gonna be the most important combat, that’s what we’re on the lookout for.”

Sadly, not each journey north bears championship fruit.

O’Malley, 30, who coughed up the crown to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 final fall in Las Vegas, is hoping to rematch “The Machine” later this yr — or problem Umar Nurmagomedov for the 135-pound strap, relying on what occurs within the UFC 311 co-main occasion.

We’ll discover out in lower than two weeks.