Sean O’Malley says he was not trying to get a walk off knockout at UFC 260.
O’Malley competed for the first time since he lost his undefeated record to Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in August 2020.
‘Suga’ looked sensational on route to a third-round knockout victory over Thomas Almedia on the pay-per-view card. However, it seemed like he could’ve closed the show much earlier had he wanted to.
O’Malley heavily dropped his Brazilian opponent in round one, only to walk away, rather than follow up with ground strikes.
The UFC 260 commentators believed he was trying to get a Mark Hunt style walk-off KO.
During a recent interview with Pat McAfee, O’Malley explained that was not the case and it was actually all part of an elaborate plan to sell T-Shirts.
“The real reason as to what happened, before the fight, I had undefeated shirts made up that said another right hand from Suga lands,” O’Malley said. “I drop him in the first round but I dropped him with a left hand, I wasn’t walking away because I thought I got a walkoff knockout, I was walking away to let him back up so I could knock him out with the right hand and sell my shirts. Which are doing absolutely incredible right now.”
O’Malley was happy to drag out the fight as he didn’t feel in any danger.
“I went and rewatched the fight and the commentators were saying it was the biggest mistake of my life and I’m just this young kid and I need to mature, I’m not smart enough in there,” O’Malley said. “I’m thinking, I’ve been doing this for 10 years, I’m pretty mature as far as a professional fighter. I’ve been striking for a long time and I didn’t feel in any danger in there.
“If I wanted to get on him and get a TKO finish, I could’ve jumped on him and did that in the first round. That’s not what I’m in there for, I’m in there to put people’s lights out and I want to go viral,” Sean O’Malley added. “Like I said, I have 15 minutes in there, why end it in three minutes in the first round when I am still having fun in there, I just broke a sweat… I need to get in there and have some fun, you only get to fight a couple of times of a year.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Who do you think Sean O’Malley should fight next?