Aiemann Zahabi plans to surprise Sean O’Malley with his striking at UFC Freedom 250: “We’ll see if I can cause a lot of problems for him”

Aiemann Zahabi hopes to give Sean O’Malley a slew of unexpected problems on the feet during their scrap on Sunday.

Zahabi and O’Malley are scheduled to meet on the White House lawn during the UFC Freedom 250 card. It’s a pivotal bantamweight tilt that will see the winner move one step closer to a 135-pound title fight. O’Malley is no stranger to UFC gold, but Zahabi has a major opportunity to possibly ascend to UFC title contention for the first time in his career.

Zahabi knows that O’Malley’s strength is his standup, but he’s been able to defeat high-level strikers, such as UFC Hall of Famer Jose Aldo and Marlon “Chito” Vera. During a UFC Freedom 250 media day session (live stream courtesy of MMAJunkie), Zahabi told reporters that O’Malley presents a new challenge in the standup from his previous opponents.

“A different type of striking problem,” Zahabi said. “I feel like Aldo was the boogeyman. He’s the fastest striker I’ve ever faced. His speed is incredible and he throws with everything he has. He has an immense amount of power in his strikes. Chito has crazy power also. He has the most knockdowns in bantamweight UFC history. Sean, I don’t think his power is based on one shot kill power like he walks up to you and he hits you on the head like Aldo and Chito. He has more like timing and counter striking.”

Zahabi is aware that O’Malley’s counter striking ability has led to him scoring big finishes, but he doesn’t plan on getting lured into a trap. He believes his own awkward striking style could throw O’Malley off on fight night.

“If you fall into a gap and he hits you and you don’t expect it, he’ll put you down and put you out,” Zahabi continued. “He’s fast, but I don’t think he’s as fast as Aldo. He doesn’t have that blinding speed, but he’s got good footwork. I think footwork is his best skillset. He moves around the ring really well. He hits and tries not to get hit back, but I think I have the better striking. I feel like people are gonna be surprised. Just because my striking’s not as traditional doesn’t mean it’s not as good … We’ll see if I can cause a lot of problems for him.”

After going 1-2 to start off his UFC run, Zahabi has managed to string together seven wins in a row. He hasn’t suffered a loss inside the Octagon since 2019. Whether or not a win over O’Malley could allow Zahabi to skip Merab Dvalishvili for a bantamweight title shot against Petr Yan remains to be seen.

Are you buying into Aiemann Zahabi’s striking being a dark horse going into UFC Freedom 250, or will he ultimately look to grapple against Sean O’Malley. Drop a comment below.