Sean O'Malley Reveals He Is Still Dealing With Hand Injuries Following July Clash With Kris Moutinho

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

UFC bantamweight contender, 'Suga' Sean O'Malley has revealed that more than a month beyond his UFC 264 main card opener against promotional newcomer, Kris Moutinho, he is still experiencing issues with his hands off the back of his one-sided, eventual third round knockout victory.

O'Malley, who opened the main card of the promotion's return to the T-Mobile Arena -- out-landed promotional debutante, Moutinho with ease over the course of three rounds, managing to set a promotional record for total strikes landed in a bantamweight fight, before scoring an eventual third round standing knockout victory as referee, Herb Dean intervened.

Landing 77 separate strikes in the first round, 70 in the second, and a stunning 83 in the third round, O'Malley revealed afterwards during his post-fight press conference that he was dealing with hand injuries as a result of striking Moutinho in their main card curtain-raiser. 

Speaking during a recent interview with The Schmo -- O'Malley claimed that whilst teaching during a seminar with head-coach, Tim Welch recently, he experienced hand and knuckle pain as a result of his bout over a month ago against Moutinho.

"I did a seminar today. And Tim (Welch) and I were teaching something where we punched his hand, his open hand," O'Malley said. "And my knuckle is just still hurting from that dude's head. He's fighting before me, and I beat him up. How does that work? My knuckles still hurt from his f*cking head."

As O'Malley mentioned, Moutinho has since booked his second Octagon walk following their Fight of the Night showing -- clashing with Aaron Philips on October 23. in a bantamweight clash in his sophomore UFC outing. 

For Dana White's Contender Series product, O'Malley -- the 26-year-old revealed recently that the promotion had offered him a UFC 268 pairing against former lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar on November 6. at Madison Square Garden, however, he rejected the bout agreement -- resulting in an apparent outburst from Sean Shelby who, in turn, encouraged him to "hang out with 6ix9ine" instead of fighting.

The UFC has since booked a UFC 268 pairing between Edgar and the #13 ranked contender, Marlon Vera for the MSG pay-per-view event, whilst O'Malley, who suffered an August knockout loss to Vera last year, has yet to seal a third Octagon walk of the year.