Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The rising UFC star is following through on his plan to start a line of custom apparel to make up for a decided lack of Reebok revenue.
It seems clear that Sean O’Malley has carved out his place with the MMA fanbase. The ‘Sugar Show’ has been making major waves lately with a pair of stunning KO wins off a long layoff from UFC competition. However, those wins don’t appear to have come with quite the weight in O’Malley’s wallet that he may have been looking for.
The streaking bantamweight recently told reporters that he planned on starting his own clothing line, to make up for what he calculates to have been around $8,000 in revenue received for over $1 million in Reebok apparel sales carrying his name and likeness. The first entry into that new clothing line dropped last week, and word on the street is that it sold out instantly (h/t MMA Mania).
Sean O’Malley put out a $200 jersey that sold out in 39 seconds yesterday.
This guy isn’t even ranked yet and is already the most marketable non-champion in the UFC.
He will be the biggest draw in the UFC by 2021. pic.twitter.com/4hvwPqqeU0
— Super Fan (@McGregorRousey) July 25, 2020
As mentioned in O’Malley’s instagram post, numbers 69 and 420 sold separately, in auctions on ebay—where both jerseys ended up bringing in around $2000.
All told that makes somewhere in the neighborhood of $24,000 for O’Malley’s debut effort in to the world of fashion. If he can keep up that kind of success he may just find the kind of robust secondary income stream he hadn’t found in the UFC’s outfitting partner.