Is Sean O’Malley underrated or overrated ?

[linvillegorge]

I think he's rated about right. Haters underrate him. His fanboys overrate him. Most others see him as an entertaining striker who is among the best in the division but probably not championship caliber right now. We'll see how his shot goes.

 

[kingghidrah]

I was a doubter but he really proved himself against Moutinho

 

[Gamer2k4]

He's both. His clownish looks and actions cause people to underestimate his fighting ability (underrated), but the popularity from those looks and actions, along with some suspect matchups and decisions, have propelled him further in the rankings than he deserves (overrated).

 

[Van Daz]

Seems like it could go either way, what are your thoughts on the #2 ranked BW in the world ?

He's just over hyped. Good fighter, but has to prove himself more.

 

[Shilajit]

His striking is probably the best in the division due to his accuracy and length. He still gets exposed on the ground against the best guys though. I thought he lost to Yan so I don't see him as even a top 5 guy atm. Sean cheated a lot in that fight btw.

Based on what though?

He's a brown belt under the Mendes brothers. Two of the greatest competitive BJJ practitioners of all time.

Not sure why people just assume he can't grapple

 

[Shilajit]

O'malley is a great fighter without a doubt and there is no debate about that and he beats 90% of his division. He is smooth, great movement, great understanding of timing and superb striking.. The only issue is that a heavy grappling Sterling is an stylistically nightmare match-up hence I don't fancy his chances against Aljo but now that being said his a great fighter and I would pick him against any non-heavy grappling fighter even against Chito rematch Suga sean stand-up is to smooth for these guys..

I would say he is somewhat underrated and way way better then his rated.. He is a sniper with great timing.. O'Malley can smoke any striker and basically 90% of the division he will only have issues with guys like Sterling who are grappling heavy fighters and there aren't many of them in his division outside of 2 or 1 other

Question is, why do we just assume that a good grappler will dominate him?

What is the reasoning behind it?

 

[drbolony]

Super overrated. Talented striker, not a well rounded mixed martial artist. Yan got robbed imo, Sean cheated a few times and Yan had about a full round of ground control time.

His only two other high profile fights he got finished by Chito was was starting to look bad against Munhoz until he went full Jon Jones. I think people overlook how effective Pedo was with his leg kicks because his striking game is so rudimentary overall.

He's a top fighter, just not top 5.

 

[legcramp]

If he can not get submitted for two rounds against Aljo he'll get the tko.

 

[dc007]

He’s good. He’ll get crushed by the grapplers in the division but he’s a legit striker

 

[SuperAlly]

Yes.

 

[jk7707]

He lost to Yan. He's a top 10 fighter in the division. That fight told us that about him. But he's going to get ruined by Aljo unless he hits a Moraes esque KO on him. I would favor Merab, Simon, Sandhagen, Vera, and Song over him.

 

[Quietus]

We don’t know because he’s been allowed to duck difficult style matchups his whole career so far. Even Yan was a shorter guy he had reach advantage over, and Sean was deliberately allowed by UFC to cheat a dozen times with glove and cage grabs to stay competitive in that fight.

Yan clearly won that fight if they called the fouls and took point(s) or reset positions there, so it is not a legit win. We don’t know how good he is until UFC stops protecting him. They continue to do that now by trying to force Aljo to turn around in 3 months after going 5 rounds with Cejudowhile Sean has been allowed to chill and prepare for him for a year.

 

[Simple Southerner]

He's mid

 

[Kb7]

He's got the height and reach to pose problems & his showed he can be competitive with top fighters. His ground game I believe is overrated, I've seen people comment how it is "elite" but there's a high possibility he gets wrecked by the top wrestlers & grapplers from what we've seen.

 

[Pilo]

I guess it depends who you ask.

His haters seem to underrate him, his fanboys overrate him, IMO.

In terms of skill, I think he's a solid BW who poses problems that aren't necessarily typical in that super competitive weight class. He's an intriguing matchup against any of the top bantamweights. Not a fan of his character, but I gotta give the guy the credit he deserves: the one time he faced a solid opponent, he did show up and proved that he's not just a lanky can crusher.

 

[TerrorTimmy]

At #2, I believe he is overrated.

He should not have jumped from 12 to 2 with the Yan win. He should have been about #5.

But so what. Every week there are a few short term inefficiencies in the rankings. Now he'll either prove that he belongs there, or he won't.

EDIT: HA! After posting I quickly perused through this thread, and I seem to be the only person discussing his actual ranking. That's funny to me.

Don't bring facts into a Sherdog thread. That's against the rules. You know this by now. It's not fair to anyone spouting garbage if you're not also spouting garbage

 

[IloveTHIS]

Overrated by his fans and by himself. Underrated by his haters.

This is exactly it. He's in Tyson territory. Massively overrated by his hard-core fans. Underrated by pundits and forum posters that don't want to seem like a dumb casual fan

 

[BangBang]

Well, when I first saw him fight I thought he had special striking ability. Made me look froward to his his fights. I marked him out as a ootential future star. He's made it to a title shot. I think that's he's correctly rated as am elite 135 lber.

 

[Ares Black]

Overrated by the UFC, underrated by Sherdog.

 

[BangBang]

I was a doubter but he really proved himself against Moutinho

Lol, he definitely did against Yan thought!