Sean O’Malley says it was ‘smart’ for Paddy Pimblett to mention his name.
Paddy Pimblett impressed in his long-awaited UFC debut earlier this month, finishing Luigi Vendramini after an exciting back and forth brawl. Even before that fight Pimblett was telling anyone who would listen that he was the promotion’s newest cash cow. Scoring a KO has only further encouraged the brash Liverpudlian.
During his rise into relevance Pimblett was given the opportunity to talk about fellow fighters on the roster. That’s when he labelled Sean O’Malley a “bitch-ass” and a “little pothead”.
O’Malley fired back at those comments, saying Pimblett mentioned his name because he was after “free publicity”.
During an appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, O’Malley doubled down on that assessment.
“I didn’t know of him until the UFC kinda started posting stuff about him, and I obviously don’t follow him,” O’Malley said (ht MMA Junkie). “So just a bunch of people telling me Paddy’s talking sh*t, so I’m not gonna not talk shit back. So, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what his beef was with me. As ugly and stupid as he may look, he’s kinda smart. He’s talking about the biggest name in the UFC. I’m clearly one of the biggest draws. I’m the cash cow, and he knows that, so he’s got to use my name. He’s got to say my name.
“People want to see characters. He understands that. He’s gonna be a character. He’s gonna say what he needs to say. He went out and performed the way he needed to, besides almost getting knocked out, but yeah, I think that could be a potential big fight. We’ll see. That was the first time I’ve ever seen him fight. We’ll see how he does against – similar with me, people want to see me fight top guys. People want to see him fight top guys.”
So both O’Malley and Pimblett are laying claim to the title of the UFC’s ‘cash cow’. It seems unlikely that these two will fight to determine that crown. O’Malley is a bantamweight and Pimblett is currently at lightweight, though he was featherweight champion with Cage Warriors.
O’Malley is also unlikely to fight someone with as much popularity as Pimblett seems to have. ‘Suga’ has made it clear that he is only looking for ‘big fights’ if he gets a pay raise. O’Malley also recently revealed that he will try to secure that raise by testing free agency as soon as possible.