Sean O’Malley has received a degree of criticism for not fighting through a calf kicked by Chito Vera to the point he was barely able to move without toppling. Ref stopped the fight late in Round 1, and O’Malley was stretchered out.

Former Olympian, ONE Welterweight champion, and UFC vet Ben Askren appeared recently on The Ariel Helwani Show, and was blunt in his assessment of O’Malley’s performance, arguing that it showed weakness.

What that says to me and the fact that he let them cart him out … if they tried carting me out with an ankle injury I would have fought someone over that, said Askren, as transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMA Mania. You are not putting my ass on a stretcher because I got an ankle injury. I got one other good leg and I am going to hop all the way to the back so leave me the ‘F’ alone.”

“In life you have failures and you have struggles and you are going to learn from them. Obviously, he hasn’t lost big in his life to this point so he probably hasn’t experienced those really hard things.”

Askren unfavorably compared O’Malley being stretchered off to Maycee Barber, who suffered an ACL tear vs. Roxanne Modafferi, lost a decision, and walked out of the Octagon.

Get up, rub some dirt on it and hop yourself to the back. You got a coach,” said Askren. “Maycee Barber was tough enough and put her arm around me and Mark and hopped to the back and she was in so much pain.

https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1295745216247455747

O’Malley coach Tim Welch defended his fighter.

https://twitter.com/TimwelchMT/status/1295795729739337729

A X-ray showed no signs of a break. The area is too swollen for an MRI, which will reveal any potential ligament or tendon damage.

What do you think UG? Did O’Malley show weakness, or did he show strength, trying to fight when he couldn’t walk?