He wanted to fight the top fighters originally until the Vera fight happened. Then the Kris fight happened, Kris was set up as an easy finish for him during a big PPV card. Ended up being a hard fight for him and exposed O'Malley doesn't respond well to pressure even if they aren't throwing any strikes at him. It's a hole in his game that the Kris fight was able to highlight, there are signs of it from his previous fights but not many was able to spot that weakness in his style. So now he and his team is slowing things down since they realize he wasn't ready for the top fighters yet. I'm sure he'll eventually try if he keeps winning. I think his confidence just went down after those 2 fights.
UFC doesn't use that model, that's why he was fast tracked at first, just didn't work out well when he fought Vera. So now they are slowing things down. The goal is still to try and get him to a title shot and become champion. But that's on O'Malley if he is going to be able to pull that off. Garbrandth was also fast tracked early in his career. He got to the title shot quickly because he was able to win the fights after the step up in competition, O'Malley wasn't able to do the same.
Yeah he landed but he couldn't really drop or finish him. The ref gifted him a TKO, that wasn't a TKO. O'Malley was running back and stumbling all over the place just trying to avoid Kris's pressure, just pressure alone and no strikes. Imagine a power striker in Kris's place instead actually throwing power shots. It wouldn't end well for O'Malley. Kris wasn't even a UFC fighter. He was brought on specifically to try and make O'Malley look good for that specific fight.
