Sean O’Malley didn’t think the Petr Yan fight would actually happen.

After O’Malley had a No Contest due to an accidental eye poke against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276, it was uncertain what was going to be next for him. That fight was ‘Suga’s’ opportunity to face a top-10 opponent but it never ended with a win or a loss.

Yet, after the fight, he and the UFC talked about facing Yan which will happen at UFC 280. However, O’Malley didn’t think Yan would take the fight.

“Yes and no. Obviously, the Pedro Munhoz fight didn’t play out the way I wanted it to. In my eyes, if you look at the stats, I didn’t get hit once in the face, didn’t get hit in the body, and checked a lot of the kicks,” O’Malley said to Yahoo! Sports. “I punched him, he thought I poked him in the eye because I hit him so hard. I just felt like, at the end of the day, I won that fight or was about to.

“Apparently, the UFC thought the same thing because you don’t get offered the number one guy in the world coming off a loss or coming off a (No Contest),” O’Malley said. “I think obviously having a big name helped. I went to the UFC after the fight and said, ‘I’m ready to book a fight. Let’s go, let’s do this.’ Petr Yan was the only guy in the top 10 without a fight booked and when that fight came about like that, I’m surprised Petr took it more than I’m surprised the UFC offered it to me.”

Although Sean O’Malley was surprised that Petr Yan took it, he is looking forward to the scrap. Despite him being a massive underdog, he is brimming with confidence and knows he will shock many by getting the win.

Do you think Sean O’Malley will beat Petr Yan at UFC 280?