The story coming into the UFC 250 pay-per-view battle between Sean O'Malley and Eddie Wineland was that it would be the biggest step up in competition for O'Malley to date. The 25-year-old was more than up to the challenge, putting Wineland to sleep with a brutal straight right hand less than two minutes after the fight began.
The bantamweight fight was the first of three in the division on the PPV broadcast from the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas. With division champion Henry Cejudo retiring and leaving the title vacant, the fights carried extra meaning. Knowing this, O'Malley (12-0) was looking to make a statement against former WEC champion Wineland (24-14-1), and he did just that, moving quickly from the opening bell and softening up Wineland with shots to the body.
After cracking Wineland with an overhand right, O'Malley feinted with an uppercut before letting loose with another overhand, this one crashing clean to Wineland's jaw. There was no doubt the shot had ended the fight and O'Malley walked away without any follow up shots, leaving Wineland literally snoring on the canvas at the 1:54 mark of Round 1.
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HE SLEPT HIM! 😱 WALK OFF, @SUGASEANMMA! #UFC250 pic.twitter.com/extMDtAGGU
— UFC (@ufc) June 7, 2020
Following the win, O'Malley gave a confident appraisal of his own skill set.
'It was a matter of minutes from the beginning of the fight before I cracked him with something. I was longer than him and when you're as fast and accurate as I am, I'm gonna land first and I'm going to land early and I landed on the button," O'Malley said. "I was really, really healthy for this fight, I had no injuries. Last fight, I felt I was 95 percent, I had a couple small injuries, but I felt 100% in there tonight."
O'Malley is hoping to get a raise before fighting again and pushed for getting "100 Gs" in the post-fight interview over the typical Performance of the Night bonus of $50,000. He did, however, collect that Performance of the Night bonus, as well as $40,000 to show and $40,000 to win.