Sean O’Malley remains on UFC 264, faces UFC newcomer Kris Moutinho

Sean O’Malley will fight on UFC 264 next weekend after all.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Louis Smolka was out of his fight against O’Malley due to a staph infection. After the news became public, several bantamweights began calling him out and O’Malley hinted on social media he agreed to face Ricky Simon. Unfortunately, Simon couldn’t make the weight and O’Malley revealed on his Twitch that he will now face UFC newcomer Kris Moutinho.

Sean O’Malley (13-1) is coming off a dominant third-round TKO over Thomas Almeida. The victory got him back into the win column after he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Marlon Vera at UFC 252 in a fight he hurt his ankle in. Since joining the UFC in 2017, O’Malley is 5-1.

Kris Moutinho (9-4) is currently on a two-fight winning streak but is just 2-2 in his last four. The 28-year-old is coming off a submission win over Andrew Salas in May in CFFC. Prior to that, he scored a TKO win over Ashiek Ajim to get back into the win column after he lost back-to-back fights to Johnny Campbell and Tony Gravely by TKO. He has also been finished in his other two losses but does hold a notable win over Bellator veteran, Da’Mon Blackshear.

It is no doubt disappointing for fans that O’Malley didn’t get one of the many bantamweights that called him out. Yet, the good news is he will remain on UFC 264 and look to get his winning streak to two.

With the addition of O’Malley vs. Moutinho, UFC 264 is now as follows:

• Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
• Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
• Greg Hardy vs. Tai Tuivasa
• Irene Aldana vs. Yana Kunitskaya
• Kris Moutinho vs. Sean O’Malley
• Carlos Condit vs. Max Griffin
• Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price
• Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia
• Ryan Hall vs. Ilia Topuria
• Omari Akhmedov vs. Brad Tavares
• Jerome Rivera vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
• Dricus Du Plessis vs. Trevin Giles
• Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong

Who do you think will win, Sean O’Malley or Kris Moutinho?