BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

UFC 250 Preview: Head-To-Head Look At Eddie Wineland Vs. Sean O’Malley

Following
This article is more than 3 years old.

A title fight between UFC women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer headlines Saturday’s UFC 250 pay-per-view card from UFC Apex.

The co-headliner finds ex-UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt facing off against Raphael Assuncao. Garbrandt, who is the No. 9 ranked fighter in the official UFC bantamweight rankings, is in the midst of a three-fight losing skid. Assuncao, who is ranked at No. 5, has lost his two most recent outings.

In another high-profile bantamweight scrap, Sean O’Malley faces Eddie Wineland in the opening bout of the ESPN+ streaming pay-per-view.

The 25-year-old O’Malley looks like a star in the making. He has put together an 11-0 career record and is coming off a “Performance of the Night” bonus-winning first-round knockout win over Jose Alberto Quinonez in March. The 35-year-old Wineland, who has been fighting with the WEC and UFC since he won the inaugural WEC bantamweight title in 2006, is also coming off a knockout win. The veteran competitor stopped Grigory Popov in June 2019.

O’Malley, who said he expects to fight for the UFC title before the end of 2021, said of the Wineland fight during an appearance on “The Luke Thomas Show,” “I think it’s a perfect next step up, next match. Beating him, he’s not one of the top, top guys right now but he’s a vet, he’s got a weird style, and I think beating him definitely shows I’m as good as I say I am. But it’s not like I’m beating someone in the top 10 right now, so I think I go out there, beat him, it shows that the hype is real, but I’ve still got a lot to prove.”

Before Wineland and O’Malley face off, here is a look at how their UFC career stats compare. 

UFC 250 takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view. ESPN and ESPN+ carry the prelims and ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass broadcast the early prelims.