Aiemann Zahabi Shrugs Off Sean O Malley Striking Before Sunday
Aiemann Zahabi says sean o malley’s striking does not scare him ahead of their Sunday fight at UFC White House. Zahabi is chasing his eighth straight victory, while O’Malley enters as the more familiar name and the target of a fighter who says the cage will settle it alone.
Zahabi’s White House message
Zahabi made that point after a recent press conference where he spoke while O’Malley was mostly left to sit in silence. He said he felt good getting a question in that setting and wanted fans to hear his side before the bout.
“I felt cool,” Zahabi said about being asked a question at the event. He added that he was happy people could finally understand his perspective, then drew a hard line around the matchup: “I’m fighting him in a cage alone. Nobody can help him.”
He pushed that even further when he talked about the setting in Washington, D.C. “At the end of the day, it’s just me and him. The fact that it’s in D.C., none of that intervenes. Nobody can help anybody and I feel like fans forget that, and I want this fight. I can’t wait to get in there. I’m excited. I’m not afraid of this guy. His striking doesn’t scare me. To me, Jose Aldo as the biggest, baddest, most dangerous striker in the division and I survived that. I’m not worried about Sean O’Malley’s striking so much.”
Jose Aldo and Marlon Vera
That confidence comes with results. Zahabi is No. 8 at 135 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings and has recent wins over Marlon Vera and Jose Aldo, two names that help explain why he believes the challenge in front of him is manageable.
He pointed to Aldo as the clearest measuring stick. Zahabi said surviving that fight changed how he sees this one, and it gives him a direct answer when asked whether O’Malley’s hands can keep him out of his game.
The market has not given him much help. Zahabi is one of the bigger underdogs on the UFC White House lineup and is currently around 3-to-1 on FanDuel, even with the seven-fight run that has put him on the edge of an eighth straight win.
O Malley and Zahabi
Zahabi also said the attention around the fight still leans toward O’Malley, but he expects that to change once people see him in the cage. “People are going to have to get to know me,” he said, then added that he feels like an acquired taste who needs repeated exposure before people fully lock in on his style and personality.
He said he is trying to build that profile while keeping the focus on substance inside the Octagon. For Zahabi, Sunday is a chance to turn a seven-fight winning streak into eight, take another step at 135 pounds, and do it in a matchup he says comes down to two fighters and one cage.
