UFC News: Sean O'Malley's UFC 264 Opponent Pulls Out; Challengers Step Up To Take Fight On Short Notice

KEY POINTS

Sean O'Malley's UFC 264 opponent pulls out due to injury
Fighters are ready to take on the short-notice fight
An announcement is expected to be made within the week.

Sean O’Malley’s UFC 264 opponent Louis Smolka has pulled out of the card due to an undisclosed injury, as per Ariel Herwani.

Despite being two weeks out from the event, a ton of fighters have thrown their hats in the ring for a shot at “The Suga Show”.

The 26-year-old has made a name for himself in the MMA circuit after putting on spectacular fights every single night, and his dynamic, free-flowing fighting style has attracted many fans and detractors.

Louis Smolka is out of next weekend’s UFC 264 fight versus Sean O’Malley, sources say. Undisclosed injury. They were scheduled to be on the PPV main card.

UFC is hoping to keep O’Malley on the card, I’m told, but no new opponent locked in yet.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 29, 2021

His star was on the rise after being featured on Dana White’s Contender Series and it rose even higher after a spectacular one-punch knockout of former WEC Bantamweight Champion Eddie Wineland at UFC 250 in June of 2020.

Many fighters responded to Smolka’s pulling out by responding to Twitter and calling out the UFC for a shot at the four-time Performance of the Night awardee despite the short turnaround time.

Names such as Ray Borg, Ricky Simon, Tim Elliott, Brian Kelleher and Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili have all made their claims to fight O’Malley.

Of the names listed above, the most interesting bout for O’Malley would be Dvalishvili.

“The Machine” has been calling out O’Malley for quite some time now and the No. 10-ranked bantamweight is on a six-fight win streak.

The Georgia native also presents the biggest challenge and risk for O’Malley as “The Machine” has been tearing up fighters with his takedowns and ground game, negating “The Suga Show’s” massive advantage on the feet.

However, the most likely call for the UFC would be Elliott as his fight against Su Mudaerji that was scheduled for June 26 at UFC Vegas 30 has been called off as the latter pulled out of their bout due to a knee injury.

Elliott tweeted his willingness to take on the fight as he had been training for a fight anyways against Mudaerji.

He previously had a shot at UFC gold against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson’s flyweight title back in 2016.

An opponent for O’Malley will most likely be announced in the next couple of days as the renowned prospect looks to test his mettle against a more experienced fighter.