Sean O'Malley recalls the general reaction in the summer of 2017 when he declared prior to his Dana White’s Contender Series audition that he’d be bigger than the biggest star the UFC has ever seen.
“I remember sitting there vividly doing an interview telling people I will be bigger than Conor McGregor,” O’Malley said Monday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “I got a lot of crap for it. There was definitely a lot of hate online saying, like, ‘Come on, man, that’s not realistic.’ But in my mind it was. I just knew I had to do the things that I’ve been doing, which is knocking people out, putting on beautiful performances, and I would get there.”
Fast forward six years, and the ever-popular O’Malley (17-1MMA, 9-1 UFC) is the new UFC bantamweight champion after dethroning Aljamain Sterling by second-round TKO this past Saturday at UFC 292. O’Malley’s crowning achievement is the culmination of UFC tenure that, so far, has been full of trash talk and flashy knockouts.
It’s reminiscent of McGregor, who was fast-tracked to a featherweight title shot in 2015 and capitalized by knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds before becoming the UFC’s first double champ the following year with a knockout of then-lightweight title holder Eddie Alvarez.
That was McGregor at the height of his career, a level that O’Malley believes he’s on the precipice of reaching.
“We’re not quite there yet, but one more knockout, and I think it puts me over the top,” O’Malley said.
That’s not the only path O’Malley is interested in taking. He could try to follow the McGregor blue print to reach the next level.
Much like McGregor back then, O’Malley is not focused solely on defending his own title, already talking about the possibility of going for a second belt at 145 pounds (if things break a certain way) and wanting to challenge one of the biggest names in boxing who just so happens to be a Floyd Mayweather protégé.
“I think there’s a couple ways of (reaching McGregor status),” O’Malley said. “Defending the belt obviously is one way. Putting a beautiful knockout on for my first title defense would do that. Moving up a weight class, but I’m not trying to fight (featherweight champ) Alexander Volkanovski. Hopefully he’s fighting Ilia Topuria. If Ilia goes out there and beats Volk, I would love to move up to 145 and fight Ilia. If Gervonta Davis – you know he’s (5-foot-3), that’s a fight that interests me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
