Ahead of Alexandre Pantoja's upcoming flyweight title defense, 'Sugar' Sean O'Malley has released screenshots of past sparring sessions between the title holders.
Pantoja will face unlikely title challenger Steve Arceg for the 125-pound crown this Saturday night in the headliner of UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro.
The fight comes five months after his successful defense against Brandon Roybal at UFC 290 in December.
Days before their highly anticipated matchup in Brazil, Sean O'Malley shared an image from a 2015 sparring session where 'Sugar' allegedly folded 'The Cannibal' with a perfectly placed lever shot. .
At that point, Pantoja had yet to make his UFC debut, but he had already competed in 18 fights as a professional mixed martial artist, while O'Malley turned professional the same year he teamed up with Pantoja in the gym.
Tim Welch reveals how Sean O'Malley cornered Alexandre Pantoja
Sean O'Malley's longtime coach Tim Welch provided insight into the incident on his YouTube channel, crediting “Sugar” with instantly defeating Pantoja during the match.
“[He wasn’t] I’m really in combat camp,” Welch said on his YouTube channel. “I'm going to spar for a few rounds, and Henry… [Cejudo] It's like, “Hey, do you want to spar with this guy?”
“So Shawn said, 'Yeah, I'll spar him.'” They spar for one round and Shawn comes out with a lip and takes him down. Defeat him in the first minute. I'll tell you, this is – I don't even remember what year it is – I don't think Sean was a pro yet. He may have been a professional just breaking in. Sean comes out there and is jumping up and down, young man. Boom, hit him with a liver shot and knock him down.
“Pantoja has to stop, wave his hand, go to Henry, kneel down, stop. I mean, there's a video, the video hasn't been released, but he's disparaging him. ” (h/t MMA Mania).
