Sean O’Malley is as ambitious of a champion as we currently have in the UFC.

The bantamweight king has made it clear since he captured the title last August that he wants to make some big dreams a reality. Before O’Malley had even made his first success title defense, and Ilia Topuria had captured featherweight gold, he was targeting a champion vs. champion fight.

That idea has been stalled with O’Malley heading onto Noche UFC and the Las Vegas Sphere for a defense against Merab Dvalishvili next month. Meanwhile, Topuria’s first defense will come against former champion and BMF title holder Max Holloway at UFC 308 in October. In unofficial mini-tournament fashion, “Sugar” hopes to put away “The Machine” and go on and challenge whoever has the featherweight title afterward. Therefore, setting up his targeted crossover boxing superfight.

“I beat Merab, knock him out viciously, boom, land a couple extra shots before the ref can get in then Ilia, Max fight and I’ll fight the winner of whoever wins that,” O’Malley said on DeepCut. “If Max wins he’s the ‘45-pound champ and BMF. If Ilia wins he’s the ‘45 [champ] and BMF. Moving up would be a massive, massive fight for the company, for the UFC.

“I want to get a big boxing fight. I want Gervonta Davis. I want Ryan Garcia. I want a big boxing fight. I gotta earn that big boxing fight. The way I do that is by going up a weight class and knocking one of those guys out. You can’t deny me a big boxing fight if I go out there and knock Merab out, knock Ilia out or Max out. You can’t deny that. You gotta give me that big boxing fight.”

A boxing match with a notable pound-for-pound boxer has been an idea presented by O’Malley along with his previous hopes of the Topuria clash. However, it’s been incredibly rare to see the UFC play ball in such collaborative efforts. If it doesn't work out, fighters can end up “erased” like former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

O’Malley, 29, feeds off the doubt he’s received in his admittedly premature aspirations. He’s gone farther than many gave him credit for as a highly-hyped Dana White’s Contender Series alum. So, in this instance, it’s just more fuel and motivation for the champion.

“People hate when I bring up boxing,” O’Malley said. “They hate it, and I’m fine with that. They can hate on it, but if I do that, you gotta give it to me. You gotta say, ‘Okay, you get that.’ That’s kind of where my head’s at.

“That same delusional 16-year-old that told everyone I’m gonna be in the UFC, I’m gonna be the champ and defend the belt, they think I’m crazy. They’re the same people that think I’m crazy for even saying that. People have been saying that my whole life. That doesn’t affect me or make me feel any certain way like, ‘Oh, maybe that can’t happen.’ That just doesn’t make sense to me. Anything can happen.”

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TOP STORIES

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Swerve. Michael Chandler won’t be surprised if Dana White is giving ‘misinformation’ with Conor McGregor update

War. Dan Hooker vows to drag excitement out of Mateusz Gamrot: ‘That’s why they put this fight together’

Experience. Tai Tuivasa recalls sparring Alex Pereira: ‘I got the sh*t punched out of me’

Assessment. Sean Strickland’s head coach breaks down ‘50-50 coin flip’ Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya

Rematch. Josh Silveira uses painful loss to Impa Kasanganay as fuel for PFL 8 rematch

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LET’S WATCH

UFC 305 Preview Show.

UFC 305 Pre-Fight Presser Staredowns.

Between the Links.

UFC 305 Open Workouts.

Embedded 4.

305 Cold Open.

Adesanya’s Fight Camp.

PFL Fight Week.

Talkin’ Sh*t.

Wilkinson’s wins.

Poatan Mind Manipulation.

Fancy 305 Preview.

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MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

This month’s full playlist:

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SOCIAL SCROLL DOWN

Fear.

Okay, Patchy, we see you.

Literally his last win.

Not bad.

History.

Damn it, Craig.

Returns.

Plea.

Intensity.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ryan Loder (8-1) vs. Robert Valentin (10-3); UFC Vegas 96, Aug. 24

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FINAL THOUGHTS

There are just way too many moving pieces between bantamweight and featherweight for me to imagine UFC going the champ vs. champ route no matter the results of those upcoming title fights. If Ilia wins then that’s Sean’s best hope. One percent chance we’d see a Max fight.

Happy Friday, everyone! Should be a fun one down under. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on Monday.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.