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Sean O’Malley likely spends more of his time than the average fighter building his brand. “Suga” has done limited edition merchandise drops, dramatically dyes his hair differently for every fight, and hosts his own podcast. As a result, O’Malley has generated a pretty significant following at 1.5 million Instagram followers.
O’Malley’s interest in branding and promotion seems to be the reason he’s a fan of the Paul brothers and their forays into boxing. Speaking with The Schmo, O’Malley explained, “I love it. I’m inspired by them. When I got into the UFC, into fighting, I wanted to be an entertainer. That’s kind of like the title I wanted to be known. I want to be an entertainer. My form of entertainment is fighting. These guys are entertainers in their industries and they’re coming over and just entertaining in boxing. I love it. I’m a huge fan of Jake, (a) huge fan of Logan.”
In fact, O’Malley is more than a fan. Jake Paul is preparing for the biggest challenge yet of his young boxing career: a showdown with former UFC Welterweight kingpin Tyron Woodley. “Suga” is not only pumped about the match up, but he wants to train with Paul and help him prepare.
“I’m very excited for that fight. I don’t watch boxing. I literally just don’t watch boxing. I’m not interested in it. It doesn’t excite me,” O’Malley said. “If a big fight coming up I don’t watch it. I watched Jake vs. Ben. I watched Logan vs. Floyd, and I’m going to watch Jake fight Tyron. I’m super excited for that fight stylistically. I think Jake can get the job done. I do. I like Tyron. I’m a huge fan of Tyron but, I’m boys with Jake. I actually might go out to Puerto Rico towards the end of his camp. Go out there and train with them a little bit, hang out. Good fight. I’m going to watch it, I’m excited.”
As for O’Malley, he’s set to battle with Louis Smolka at UFC 264 on July 10, 2021.
Insomnia
In defense of the commentary team, it looked like a solid head kick!
Most awkward moment in MMA history? pic.twitter.com/VXarhmW0F5
— BirksMMA (@BirksMMA) June 8, 2021
It is not uncommon for fighters to lie about their records and get sneaky in regards to self-promotion, but this is a hilarious new level.
In a remarkable Tapology first, a fighter is trying to remove a loss from their record by amateurishly photoshopping a random guy’s head onto the original fight poster, and sending it to us as proof that he wasn’t in the fight.
— Tapology (@tapology) June 8, 2021
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Tapology
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While I’m still optimistic that Paulo Costa fights again at some point in 2021, I wouldn’t predict it to be a main event.
Many amazing fans of MMA comes to me in multiple places and saying; “We hope see you fighting soon when you come back?”I really feels bad for them,Unfortunately I wont make bigs show to get same payment as unranked fighters. No make sense.
After all I still training and sharp pic.twitter.com/fpOtL3CqyM— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 9, 2021
This confirms it: Bruce Buffer is basically UFC’s iron man.
I had no idea about this pic.twitter.com/UpjFMmEg8Z
— Heavyweight Thanos (@MMAThanos) June 8, 2021
Demian Maia is confirmed more dangerous than Francis Ngannou.
UFC Fights won by Francis Ngannou when he landed less than 10 significant strikes: 7
UFC Fights won by Demian Maia when he landed less than 10 significant strikes: 8
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) June 9, 2021
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Take a moment to admire Spike Carlyle’s buzzer-beater armbar, as well as the absolute absurdity of Bally’s Fight Night including energy bars on their display!
Spike Carlyle submits Gil Guardado in R1 #Ballysfightnight pic.twitter.com/3NPaBVqrW5
— Streetfight Banned-cho (@streetfitebncho) June 9, 2021
Here’s one way to identify a JMMA fan in the wild:
Rizin Fans all around the world are showing their excitement for the new event on Saturday with their own Soccer Kick KOs. pic.twitter.com/nwPSLcQnTV
— Clay From Uncle Joey MMA (@UncleJoeyMMA) June 9, 2021
Slow-mo left cross straight to the jaw:
When @sniper_pedraza activates finish mode, it’s game over
Saturday’s #StevensonNakathila co-main is gonna be fun pic.twitter.com/OOvfMHGl8z
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2021
Random Land
This squirrel is living its best life.
Midnight Music: A great Talking Heads track from a pretty bad Talking Heads album.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.