Thomas Almeida (photo via YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Thomas Almeida acknowledges that Sean O’Malley is a talented fighter. But, the bantamweight contender believes ‘Sugar’ still has some work to do, in terms of proving he’s a championship contender.

Almeida is booked to fight O’Malley today at UFC 260, which is taking place in Las Vegas. O’Malley will be competing for the first time since last August, when he was stopped by Marlon Vera.

Since the loss, O’Malley has repeatedly insisted that Vera got lucky in the fight, which saw him significantly compromise O’Malley’s movement with a leg kick. The 26-year-old had won all 12 of his pro fights, before facing Vera.

While talking to the media recently, Almeida had this to say about O’Malley, and the fighter’s considerable hype (quotes via MMA Fighting).

 “(O’Malley) is popular on YouTube, but still has to prove many things in the UFC. He’s a good kid, a talented kid, but still has to do a lot more. I face him like any other regular opponent. He has his qualities, he’s a talented kid, but I’ll do my game in there. I’m going there to work, be aggressive and represent. I’m really happy with this opportunity.”

“In my opinion, in order to be recognized and famous, he has to win and fight big names. He’s talented, has a good reach for the division and knows how to use that. He kicks a lot, and we have to be careful with that. A kick is a kick, nobody likes to get kicked in the face [laughs]. Those are his strong points. In my opinion, he still has to show more.”

The 29-year-old Almeida (22-4), meanwhile, is looking to end a three fight losing skid tonight. In his last outing, this past October, Almeida lost via decision to Jonathan Martinez.