After a thrilling victory back in March, Sean O'Malley is set to appear once again on one of the biggest UFC fight cards of 2021.
The Helena native announced on his YouTube page that he has a fight booked for UFC 264 on July 10. While O'Malley declined to mention who his opponent was, both MMA Junkie and SB Nation outlet Bloody Elbow are reporting that O'Malley, 26, is set to fight veteran Louis Smolka in a bantamweight fight.
The fight is scheduled to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After suffering his first professional mixed martial arts loss last August, O'Malley (13-1, 5-1 UFC) returned in a big way at UFC 260 when he knocked out Thomas Almeida in the third round on the main card. O'Malley earned a Performance of the Night bonus for his win.
Smolka, 29, is coming off of a TKO victory over Jose Quinonez, an opponent O'Malley himself beat in March of 2020. Smolka (17-7, 8-7 UFC) is 3-2 in his last five fights.
The UFC 264 card is headlined by a trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. The pair met up in January at UFC 257 where Poirier defeated McGregor by TKO in the second round of the fight. McGregor won the first meeting between the two back in 2014 by TKO.
The UFC 257 pay-per-view that was headlined by Poirier and McGregor reportedly drew 1.6 million buys, which would tie it for the second-highest buy-rate in UFC history.
