[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] thinks he could return earlier than he originally anticipated.
O’Malley underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip – an injury he was dealing with prior to losing his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 in September.
O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) was initially looking at six-eight months off, but after going under the knife, “The Suga Show” is planning on coming back a little sooner.
“(I) got surgery Thursday,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “Today is Saturday, it’s been f*cking two days. I feel f*cking great. I’m going to come back better than ever. I’ll be back next week to sparring. I do think I am going to do everything right. I’m going to recover as fast as I possibly can, and I’m going to get back. Everyone is like, ‘Don’t come back too soon.’
“I’m coming back the right amount of soon. I want to be back ASAP. I want to get these fights in while I’m still young enough. I turn 30 this month. I want to recover, do everything right, but I want to get back in there April, May, June latest. I think I can be back before that. March even would be crazy, but who knows? I’m just going with the flow, day by day.”
O’Malley is not short of options in his return, and already has a slew of bantamweight contenders such as Cory Sandhagen, Henry Cejudo, and Jose Aldo hoping to fight him.
[lawrence-related id=2773342,2773428,2773339,2772416,2772368]