It appears the UFC was looking to book Sean O’Malley against Frankie Edgar , but O’Malley declined. Not because O’Malley (14-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) didn’t want to fight Edgar, but simply because he wasn’t interested in fighting at UFC 268 on Nov. 6 in New York. O’Malley, who’s fought all of his UFC bouts in Las Vegas, wanted to avoid New York because of the state’s “ridiculous” tax rates and would rather fight a month later at UFC 269. O’Malley got into a disagreement with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, whom he claimed was “acting like a f*cking tool” after he turned the date down, but they hashed things out eventually
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Sean O’Malley explains why he turned down Frankie Edgar for UFC 268 in New York – MMA Junkie