Report – Thomas Almeida vs. Sean O’Malley targeted for UFC 260 on March 27th

A bantamweight matchup between Brazilian Muay Thai practitioner, Thomas ‘Thominhas’ Almeida and polarizing striker, ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley is currently in the works for UFC 260 on March 27th. — with a location or venue for the event yet to be determined by the promotion. 

News of the targeted tie comes off the back of Montana native, O’Malley’s previous claims that Brazilian striker, Almeida had rejected a bout offer to meet at UFC 258 next weekend in ‘Sin City’.

“I was supposed to be fighting (on) February 13th. against — I didn’t say it because I didn’t know,” O’Malley said. “I got offered, Thomas Almeida. He turned it down, he said my right hand was too powerful or something along those lines of COVID (-19) or something, so he turned the fight down. Good decision on his part, (it) would have been a nasty KO.“

Dropping four defeats in his last five Octagon outings after an eye-catching twenty-one fight unbeaten run, Almeida slumped to his third consecutive loss at UFC Fight Island 6 in October in a unanimous decision defeat to short-notice replacement, Jonathan Martinez. 

For O’Malley, the Dana White’s Contender Series alum hopes to rebound from his first professional defeat — a high-profile UFC 252 first-round knockout loss to rival, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in an August co-main event slot. O’Malley confirmed the promotion’s plans to pit him with Almeida on a recent episode of his podcast. 

21-0 prior to his first professional outing, Almeida featured in a UFC Fight Night Las Vegas main event against former bantamweight titleholder, Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt, suffering a first-round knockout defeat back in May of 2016. 

Despite a brief return to winning ways against Albert Morales, Almeida dropped a trio of straight losses against division contenders, Jimmie Rivera and Rob Font before October’s defeat to Martinez. From twenty-two professional wins, the 29-year-old Sao Paulo native has scored a whopping seventeen knockout stoppages.

O’Malley, 26 seen his twelve-fight unbeaten streak halted by Ecuadorian favourite, Vera back in August of last year. The poised striker has blasted through his bantamweight peers prior to the defeat, knocking back former WEC 135-pound champion, Eddie Wineland and Jose Alberto Quinonez in his Octagon return last year.

UFC 260 takes place on March 27th. with a heavyweight title rematch between incumbent best, Stipe Miocic and challenger, Francis ‘The Predator’ Ngannou slated to headline the card. In the co-main event slot, reigning featherweight gold holder, Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski defends his throne against Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega. 

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.