Sean O’Malley has quickly become one of Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) brightest young stars even though “Suga” is not ranked in the Top 10 and has yet to hold a world title. But, that doesn’t matter when it comes to moving the needle.
According to O’Malley, once his fight against former UFC Bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, was announced to go down at UFC 280 on Oct. 22, 2022, the numbers started going crazy. That’s the reason he believes current division champion, Aljamin Sterling, owes him half of what he is going to get off pay-per-view (PPV) points that he will get for his title defense against T.J. Dillashaw on the same card.
“I think this is going to be the first time Aljo gets pay-per-view points, because he’s defending his belt, which is absolutely f*****,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel (via MMA Fighting).
“He owes me like 50 percent of those,” he continued. “UFC basically said when they announced my fight, they’ve seen the interaction and engagement of social and everything, the thing just went boom. My fight is the most hyped fight on that card. I’m not taking anything away from Charles vs. Islam, that’s going to be a sick fight, but me vs. Petr? It’s just such an interesting fight.”
Indeed, Sterling vs. Dillashaw will co-headline the bout, while former champion, Charles Oliveria, and Islam Makhachev fighting for the vacant Lightweight title will get top billing for the stacked PPV card.
While O’Malley shouldn’t be expecting a check from “Funk Master” anytime soon, he could very well start earning his own PPV points in the near future should he be able to trump Yan in Abu Dhabi. “Suga” called for a shot at the winner of Sterling vs. Dillashaw, and if he takes out the No. 1 contender, it would be pretty hard to deny him the title fight.
To check out the full UFC 280: “Oliveira vs. Makhachev” fight card click here.