Sean O’Malley sees large potential in fellow UFC star Paddy Pimblett.

Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) takes on Michael Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) in Saturday’s five-round UFC 314 co-headliner (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Kaseya Middle in Miami.

Former multiple-time Bellator champion and former UFC title challenger Chandler will mark Pimblett’s sternest check up to now. Whereas most are wanting on the matchup as extra useful to Pimblett, ex-UFC bantamweight champ O’Malley thinks Chandler has an equal quantity to achieve with a win.

“Paddy vs. Michael Chandler is such an attention-grabbing battle,” O’Malley mentioned on his “TimboSugarShow” podcast. “Michael Chandler is such a gangster for taking that battle. If he beats Paddy, that’s nonetheless an enormous win – possibly not in some individuals’s eyes, however Paddy is f*cking expert. What he did to Bobby Inexperienced was tremendous. It’s an enormous battle.

“Michael Chandler is a beast for taking that battle. Paddy’s a beast. Paddy, what he needs to do is climb the rankings. I feel that battle makes a lot sense. I don’t know who wins, both. I really feel prefer it’s going to be very aggressive. … (Pimblett is) very sharp and he’s very expert.”

Pimblett entered the UFC’s light-weight rankings after notching a fast, first-round submission of King Inexperienced at UFC 304 final July. Chandler alternatively, has misplaced 4 of his previous 5, and back-to-back to Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira.

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 314.